A Strange New World
by AlexLoneWolf
Summary: (Note: Once again, please do not read if you have not read A New Hero.) Summoned by the Princesses of Equestria, a Prince and Princess head forward to the Crystal Empire for their first summit. However, in the middle of their rest, both of their crowns are taken by a couple of thieves. Needing to retrieve them back, the two royal companions must face a completely strange new world.
1. Day 1

**(Note: Just in case any of you don't know, this is a remake of Equestria Girls.)**

Day 1: The Summit

* * *

"Hello, Alexander." Her voice echoed towards me.

"Mom?" I inquired, needing to question her sudden appearance. I looked around, noticing my surroundings very foggy and wavy…like…in a dreamlike state… "Um…are you in my dreams, mom?"

"That is correct, Alex." She answered, closing her eyes and nodding for the brief moment. "I apologize for the intrusion, but there is only something I wanted to share with you."

"Don't worry about it, mom. You're not intruding." I assured her.

She released a small chuckle. "You need your own space. I learned that the hard way…" She recalled our last…slight conflict.

"Oh…right…well…" I shook my head. "It's fine. What did you need to tell me?"

"I left a note by the side of your bed. I'd like for you to read it once you wake up." She informed.

"A note?" I asked.

"Yes, let's just leave it at that. I'd like for you to continue receiving your rest. Sleep, my son, we shall see each other very soon…" Afterwards, she sent one last smile before she disappeared through wavy fades. I was still curious about this sudden appearance from my mother, however, I felt my body falling unconscious completely in order to comply with Luna's request.

* * *

Once I felt my actual body breaking from slumber, I was already looking to my side of the bed. I was asleep, but what Luna mentioned stuck to my mind. The note was not hard to find at all. It stood out from everything else with its large white grainy texture and its obvious formal penmanship inside. Using my magic, I swiftly grabbed the note and read it in bed.

_Greetings, my son, you have been summoned to the Crystal Empire along with Twilight Sparkle and the rest of your friends under Prince and Princess circumstances. You shall be informed of these tasks, but as of right now, your presence is requested as soon as possible. XOXO, Love, Luna._

I couldn't help but smile at that last part. It just reminded me how…incredible it felt to have a real loving mother. However, with the "Prince and Princess circumstances", it made me feel a little queasy. This most likely referred to actual Prince and Princess royal duties, and I had unfortunately forgotten about such things. Would I have to do such duties from now on, alternating my lifestyle? Well…I'll guess I'll find out… But at least I'll be with those I love…my family… Miss Cadence, Tia, Mom, and my best friends.

Wasting no time, I got myself ready and started outside to meet the others.

* * *

I managed to come across Twilight in town near the sweet shop. She was sitting outside, seeming to be waiting as she looked around.

"Twilight." I stated, offering a smile and catching her attention. She turned her head to the source of the sound, spotting me. Her face formed a silent but joyous grin. We both exchanged an embrace.

"Alex! Did you get a letter from Princess Celestia too?" She asked.

"Well…from my mom… You think we're ready for whatever's ahead of us?" I sent her the question, feeling the need of her opinion on the matter, just to know I wasn't alone.

"As long as we're together, I'm sure we are!" She presented confidently, but then retracted it some. "…right?"

Attempting to not decline her mood any further, I patted her friendly on the shoulder and nodded. "Right. I'm sure." I looked around. "What about the others? Are they coming with us?"

"Yeah! They had to step inside the sweet shop because Pinkie smelled something delicious coming from the Cakes. They're in there trying to get her out as soon as possible." Twilight chuckled.

"Hm." I reacted with a small smile. "That's Pinkie."

A door immediately sounded by us. Applejack revealed herself as she walked out with a narrowed expression, dragging Pinkie Pie along with her.

"Wait! I'm not finished yet!" Pinkie cried out, flinging her hooves around her.

"Pinkie, we've wasted enough time as it is! We need to leave now!" Applejack announced a little angrily.

"But…" Pinkie sighed when she realized that nothing she did was going to stop Applejack.

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity walked out behind her. Fluttershy turned her head and noticed me. She immediately flapped her wings and fluttered gently towards me, nuzzling her head on mine as soon as she reached.

"Are you two excited to go to the Crystal Empire on such an occasion?" Rarity asked Twilight and me.

"Well…we can't really say, but…" I tried to answer, but Applejack released a grunt, continuing to drag a saggy Pinkie Pie.

"Might we get things along here? I'd like to start headin' to the train before it can leave us. Those letters sounded mighty important."

"Can't argue with you there…" I muttered and gestured my head for our departure from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire.

* * *

During our train ride, Pinkie managed to brighten up again when reminded on how we'll be seeing the Princesses in the Crystal Empire. Pinkie has always loved the fresh air and "shininess" of the entire land itself. Of course, Pinkie has always been a sucker for shiny things, not to mention in a bad way of course.

"WHOOOO!" She cheered as soon as her eyes laid on the crystal environment we were to pass through.

The train eventually came to a halt. We gladly, and somewhat excitedly, exited off the train and began heading our way towards the Crystal Castle.

"Hoo-wee!" Applejack exclaimed as everypony slightly scattered except her, Twilight, and me. "Your very first princess and prince summit. You two must be over the moon!"

"Oh, I am excited." Twilight answered as we continued through the center of town. "But, to be honest, I'm a little nervous, too."

"Don't worry." I assured, holding a foreleg over her. "We'll be fine."

"You're nervicited!" Pinkie suddenly flashed in front of us. "It's like you wanna jump up and down and yell 'YAY ME!'" Pinkie demonstrated her so called "nervicitedness" by bouncing up and down. "But you also wanna curl up in a teeny-tiny ball and hide at the same time!" Pinkie did so, presenting her usual self. Nevertheless, Pinkie pulled herself out and rubbed a hoof on Twilight's and my mane."We've all been there!"

"I'm there almost every day." Fluttershy added sadly, causing me to face over to her and offer her a compensating kiss.

"You two got no reason to fret." Applejack assured. "Everything's gonna be juust..."

"TWILIGHT!" Rarity exclaimed loudly and swerved over to her, cutting off Applejack. "Ugh, sorry darling, but I just realized you're not wearing your crown." She pointed out, observing her head. "You haven't forgotten it back in Ponyville, have you?"

"It's in my bag." Twilight directed to a small bag she had brought with her.

"Oh, shoot." I expressed, remembering that I completely forgot my crown and actually didn't even know I was supposed to bring it. "Were we supposed to bring our crowns? I forgot mine…"

"Don't worry, I brought yours too." Twilight relieved me.

"Really? How did you…"

"Remember the day I asked you if I could see it for a while? Well…I kind of kept it near mine and forgot to return it…sorry…" She explained.

"Really? Oh well, then don't worry about it. It's probably safer in your hooves." We continued walking towards the castle. "It really means a lot to me, because it was given to me by my mother. But you're my best friend, and I trust you with it."

This allowed Twilight to form a light smile on her face. "Thanks…" However, it disappeared a little. "As for mine… I just feel a little self-conscious about wearing it." She stopped to face me. "Haven't really gotten accustomed to these yet, either..." She rose up in the air, flapping her wings, though she positioned herself in the wrong way, only staying in the air for a few seconds before she fell flat on the ground.

I helped her up and patted her comfortingly. "Don't worry, we'll get you there. I mean look at me. I had trouble at first, but now I'm doing pretty okay."

"Absolutely!" Rarity joined. "You are a princess now, Twilight. Embrace it! I'm telling you, if I had a crown like that, I would never take it off. Why, I'd sleep in the thing."

I reacted with a usual look for Rarity, but Twilight appeared to be more unamused, most likely because Rarity wasn't exactly taking this business seriously.

"Like I said." I approached Twilight, placing a foreleg around her once again. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be just fine. You said it yourself, remember?"

"Hm." Twilight smiled lightly. "Yeah…"

* * *

We entered the castle doors once we reached them. As soon as the inside was visible, horns immediately played, welcoming us. Twilight and I walked through, stopping near one of the royal guards, while the other girls stayed behind at the doors.

"His and her highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Alex!" He announced proudly.

Miss Cadence in front of us laughed and quickly walked towards us. "Twilight! Alex! I haven't seen you both since the coronation!" She embraced us both.

"We have so much to discuss." My aunt walked towards us as well as my mother. "But, it can wait until tomorrow. You all look tired from your journey. Now, off to bed, all of you." She sweetly advised. The girls didn't really seem to mind and walked off to their rooms. I could hear Pinkie Pie cheering loudly.

"What, Tia? Already?" I shared light-heartedly, noticing my mother gazing at me with her eyes fully open, indicating her happiness. "We only just got here."

She smiled and closed her eyes. "I understand, but you'll need your rest for the very reason why we summoned you both here."

"I suppose you're right…"

Princess Luna walked a few steps towards me and placed a caring hoof on me. "Do you want my company for the night?"

I chuckled lightly. "Thanks, mom, but I think I'll be staying with Fluttershy."

"Hm." She revealed a closed grin. "I understand, but if you need anything, just call me."

I nodded. "Goodnight, mom."

"Goodnight, son."

I turned to my aunt before turning around to walk.

"Goodnight, Tia."

"Goodnight, Alex." She answered.

I began walking the opposite direction, hearing Miss Cadence. "Goodnight, Alex!"

"Goodnight, Miss Cadence." I returned.

"Do you really need to call me Miss Cadence?" She asked, giggling lightly. I stopped with a raised hoof and turned my head towards her. "You know I'm your cousin."

"Well…Miss Cadence sounds a lot better than Cousin Cadence, doesn't it?" I asked with a slight smirk.

"How about just Cadence? I'm not going to bite or anything."

"Thanks, but I'd like to show my respect and love for you as much as I can."

She smiled warmly. "You're sweet."

I sent one last smile before I walked off to bed.

* * *

I found and entered the room Fluttershy was in. She was already snuggling herself to comfort in bed.

"Like those royal cushions and bed sheets?" I asked, smiling a little at her adorableness.

"Yes!" Fluttershy practically exclaimed. "It's so fluffy! So soft and warm!" She nuzzled her head on the pillows, seemed to be in a state of ecstasy as if she was on a super fluffy cloud.

I chuckled. "I guess that's the perks of being a royal flower, huh?" Fluttershy merely gazed at me, her mouth resting on the pillow, but her adorable eyes staring directly into mine. After a moment of this sweet silence, I decided to visit Twilight before hitting the hay. "I'll going to go check up on Twi, and then I'll come and sleep, okay?"

"Mmk." She answered without moving from her current position.

* * *

I walked the distance and knocked on her door, awaiting her answer.

"Come in." Twilight announced from inside.

I did so, seeing Spike fix up his bed as I walked inside. I shifted my view towards Twilight. She was in front of a mirror about to place her crown on.

"Trying out the new look, huh?" I asked, being a little playful.

"Oh." She was lightly surprised. "Hey…" She looked at her crown and smiled lightly. "Yeah… I guess I am…"

As I walked towards her, she placed her crown lightly on her head. Then, she began observing herself for a moment in silence. However, I grew immediately concerned when her ears flopped down and she softly sighed.

"What is it?" I questioned, growing closer to her with a frown.

"I don't know, Alex. I'm just... worried, I guess. Princess Cadence was given the Crystal Empire to rule over. What if now that I'm a princess, Celestia expects me to lead a kingdom of my own?" She asked, the fear clearly in her eyes.

Before I could open my mouth, Spike intervened in exclaim. "That would be awesome!"

Twilight and I both turned to look at Spike, but Twilight had more of an annoyed look to her face. "No it would not! Just because I have this crown and these wings, it doesn't mean I'll be a good leader!" She closed her eyes solemnly and placed the crown away on a nightstand near her bed.

"Come on, Twi…" I placed a caring hoof on her shoulder. "Miss Cadence was given the Crystal Empire because it had suddenly appeared after a thousand years. There needed to be a good leader to take care of it and she fit the job perfectly. Besides, Shining Armor helps her with the kingdom as well. I doubt Tia would have you rule over a kingdom all by yourself."

"Well…there's you." She faced towards me.

"Well…yes…but besides that, I don't think she'd place us in a leadership position for a whole kingdom…unless she really needed to…"

"Yeah…I guess you're right… Thanks, Alex." She lightly hugged me.

I smiled lightly. "Of course."

Afterwards, she gently pulled away and headed for her bed. "Well, better get some shut eye then…" She stopped herself, remembering something. "Oh, here." She pulled out something from her bag. "You might want to keep this with you." She gave me my crown.

"Oh!" I accepted it. "Thanks, Twilight. Goodnight." I expressed as she climbed in her bed.

"Goodnight." She contently answered.

I turned off the light with my magic and turned around to walk out. However, I stopped when I heard Twilight grunt continuously. "Can't... tuck..." I turned around to see her having a struggle with not her bed, but her wings. When she tried to have them in their usual resting position, she would turn, shove, and finally rest until her wings suddenly erected repeatedly. I had to hold in a small laugh as I placed a hoof to my mouth. "Just trying to get comfortable!" She exclaimed, turning her face back to me and forcing her wings to be rested. "Hah…Finally." She looked at me again. "Okay…now Goodnight." She closed her eyes and began resting softly. However, I just had a feeling in my gut that her wings would pop out again, so I stayed there for a few seconds and waited with a smirk. As expected, her wing shot out, bringing the blanket on top of her over her completely. "Ugh!" She groaned annoyingly.

"Here, let me help you." I told her, feeling a tone of laughter. I walked over to her bed and removed the blanket. "You can't just force your wing to retract. That's like trying to fit a cube block into a sphere hole. You have to learn to ease it." I grabbed her wing with my hooves. "Geez…see, it's like so tense. No wonder it keeps popping out like that. You must have really been stressing out."

"Well…a little…" She answered a bit embarrassingly.

"Remember about those breathing exercises Miss Cadence taught you." I advised with a smile and massaged her wings a bit to where I could begin folding them softly. When I finally had them tucked neatly to her sides, I placed the covers over her and tucked her in. "Better?"

"Better." She reacted with a slight bashful expression, blushing a bit within her cheeks.

I merely chucked a bit inside. "Night, Twi." I rubbed her mane both comfortingly and playfully."

"Night…"

I walked out, leaving her to sleep, and returned to Fluttershy's and my room.

Fluttershy, overtaken by the very plush bedsheets, was already asleep by the time I walked in. I held in my soft chuckle and walked over to the bed. I placed my own crown near the nightstand and then got ready for bed. I quietly tucked myself in with Fluttershy and later closed my eyes, smiling in content.

* * *

I awoke in the middle of the night, however, as the room was still engulfed in complete darkness. Well…not completely dark. The first thing that caught my eye was the little light that seeped through the door. I studied it for a moment and noticed that the door was actually slightly ajar. It was closed, but not fully. Did I close it right last night..?

I felt Fluttershy embrace me from behind, mumbling lovely.

Then, I heard a soft growl, immediately catching my attention.

"Is somepony there?" I whispered, looking around, despite any light. However, with my eyes adjusting to the darkness, I managed to see something different in the room. I felt my heart pound a little as some fear struck into me. I carefully pulled away from Fluttershy's embrace and off the bed. I saw what appeared to be a figure in front of me. "Twilight…is that you?"

I slowly began walking towards the figure until I suddenly heard a voice I wasn't expecting outside.

"My crown! She's got my crown!" A yell echoed throughout the halls.

"H-huh?" Fluttershy sat up in alert.

"What?" I looked towards the door, ready to find out what happened. However, I was suddenly pushed towards the ground. "What the?!" I couldn't easily push myself back up, something was holding me down.

"Stop! Thief!" Twilight's voice continued to exclaim while I continued struggling.

"Star! Come on! We gotta go!" I heard another unfamiliar voice from outside.

The weight was lifted and the door was thrown open, leaving something vanishing out the room.

"Alex, are you okay!?" Fluttershy came to my aid.

I shook my head and quickly pushed myself up. "Come on! Twilight's in trouble!" We raced out the door to see Twilight chasing after two ponies in hoods, their identifies being practically hidden.

"She's stolen my crown!" The other girls were awoken and raced out to see what was going on. Twilight teleported herself in front of the two ponies. "Stop!" However, one of them teleported past Twilight, leaving the hood and revealing her appearance. But that didn't stop the mysterious mare thief. She looked back smugly, continuing to run. The other hooded pony was given an opportunity to pass Twilight, as she was focused on the other pony. As she ran, I noticed something in her mouth. And then I realized it… It was my crown!

I quickly worked my legs faster, catching up with Twilight to catch these scum thieves. The both of them continued running. The revealed one looked back and noticed Twilight gaining on her. Twilight took a chance and dove towards her, tackling her to the ground. They slid into another room, where the pony with Twilight's crown was pinned down.

"Star, catch!" She exclaimed and threw the crown towards her accomplice. The other pony quickly caught it. "Hurry! Get in!" The hooded pony did so, running and vanishing into a mirror.

"No!" I exclaimed.

"What did you do with my crown?" Twilight demanded.

"Sorry it had to be this way!" She apologized ruthlessly and then teleported out of her grip. "...Princess." She concluded mockingly, saluting and jumping into the mirror.

Every one of the girls gasped.

I began running, attempting to jump after her, but Twilight stopped me. She held me back with her magic, and then with her hooves when she reached me. "Alex, wait!"

"She's getting away, Twilight!" I answered back, full of adrenaline.

"You can't go after her! We don't even know what's on the other side!"

I sighed, feeling defeated and then even worse when I realized she took not only Twilight's crown, but the special crown my mother gave me.

"Who was that…?" Fluttershy asked, deeply surprised as much as the other girls were.

"…we have to hurry and tell the Princess…" Twilight announced.

"Okay…" I returned, sensing defeat in her tone as well.

* * *

We returned to the main hall. The princesses were still awake, most likely due to their royal duties.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouted, alarming them. "Thieves! They stole our crowns!"

"W-what?" Princess Celestia tried to understand. Twilight explained the situation, the appearance of the revealed pony, and made a mention of the hooded figure, which she could not describe, due to the clothing protecting the pony's identity. After Twilight's explanation, Celestia frowned seriously with closed eyes. "Sunset Shimmer." She answered after a moment of silence. "A former student of mine. She began her studies with me not long before Twilight. But when she did not get what she wanted as quickly as she liked, she turned cruel and dishonest. I tried to help her. But she eventually decided to abandon her studies and pursue her own path, one that has sadly led to her stealing your crown."

Spike came front with a crown that looked exactly liked Twilight's, only a lot cruder. "She replaced Twilight's with this one."

Princess Celestia analyzed it closely. "I suppose Sunset Shimmer thought you wouldn't notice right away that this was not yours." She began walking down the hall. "And by the time you did, it would be too late to go after your crown and element of harmony." Twilight quickly followed after her.

"But I don't understand! Where'd she go? Why did she take the crown?" Twilight desperately asked as the rest of the girls, including my mother and cousin, followed us.

"You'll soon know more about this place than even I do." Princess Celestia ended, concluding the last statement before we left the room.

She led us back where Sunset Shimmers had escaped, along with whoever was with her.

"I do not know who would accomplice Sunset Shimmer in stealing your crown, but whoever it is must still be with her on the other side…" Princess Celestia added, staring at the mirror in front of us.

"Other side?" I asked, beginning to feel the great need to retrieve my own crown back. "What do you mean?"

Princess Celestia looked towards my mother and motioned her head.

My mom looked at me and placed a hoof on my back. She led me towards the mirror and began explaining its existence. "This is no ordinary mirror." We stared at our reflections presented upon it. "It is a gateway to another world." She looked towards me, causing me to look back at her. "A gateway that opens once every thirty moons."

"Sparkly!" Pinkie Pie touched the mirror, creating fragile waves across the mirror.

Princess Luna merely returned an unamused and narrowed expression, which I would have done the same. She continued to explain as she used her magic to slowly drag Pinkie backwards with her hoof.

"It has always been kept in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. But when Princess Cadence took over the Crystal Empire, we sent it here for her to watch over." She continued.

"I had always hoped that Sunset Shimmer would someday use it to return." Princess Celestia added. "To come back to Equestria seeking my guidance. Obviously, this is not what has happened."

"Twilight, you must use the mirror to go into this other world and retrieve your crown." Miss Cadence added in light desperation. "Without it, the other elements of harmony have no power and Equestria is left without one of its most important means of defense."

"Your crown does not belong in the place Sunset Shimmer now calls home." My mother included importantly. "And in her possession your element of harmony will no doubt be used to bring harm to the inhabitants of this other realm. They will not have the power to defend themselves."

I narrowed my eyes determination. "I'm going in with her too. Her scum 'accomplice' took my crown and I'm getting that back as well!"

Princess Luna's eyes widened. "What? Alex… your crown holds no threat. Your element is within you…" She placed a hoof on my chest. "Nopony can take that away from you… You do not need to go."

I closed my eyes and placed my hoof on her hoof. I shook my head to politely disagree with her. "The crown you gave me is very important to me, mom… It was the day we finally…you know…officially bonded together as a family… If it weren't for this glorious memory…the crown would just be a crown to me…but _you_ gave me this crown, mom. You placed it on my head and declared me a prince AND your son. Even then, I'm not leaving Twilight by herself… We've always gone through rough patches together and I'm not going to let this one slip by… I'm going in…"

My mother's eyes glimmered, shaking lightly as her eyes darted a small distance on me. "Alex…"

I sent her an assuring small smile. "I'll be okay."

She released a sigh through her nose and closed her eyes, holding her head down in thought. Then, she raised it and looked towards me. "…be safe…" She turned her head to Princess Celestia, who nodded her head in agreement.

"You both understand the importance of your task, then?" She asked us after she had placed a saddlebag on Twilight.

"Of course." Twilight answered as I nodded my head.

"Good. Then you must go at once."

Twilight inhaled a deep breath and sighed.

I placed a gentle hoof on her and managed to send her another small smile.

She nodded, and we both began walking towards the mirror.

However, Rainbow suddenly surprised us by landing in front of us in a flash.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. She's going? We're going with her!" She directed towards the others. "Right girls?"

Pinkie squealed. "Oooh! I'm so nervicited!"

"You do realize that's not a real word, right?" Applejack asked with a serious expression.

Twilight and I released more relieved smiles, eager to have their company with us, but Princess Celestia declined that offer. "I'm afraid I can't let you go."

"What?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Why not?" She demanded.

"Sending all of you could upset the balance of this alternate world." Princess Celestia explained. "Creating havoc that would make it impossible for Twilight and Alex to get both their crowns back from Sunset Shimmer. This is something Princess Twilight and Prince Alex must do by themselves."

"Time is of the essence." My mother warned us. "On the third day," She presented a vision above her with her magic. "…when the moon reaches its peak in the night sky, the gateway will close, and once it does, it will be another thirty moons before you will be able to use it to return." Luna slightly looked back and then used her magic to pull out something. It was a bag. It wasn't exactly a saddlebag, as it only had one strap, but more of a messenger bag. "Here…" She called to me, placing the strap over my head to use my right shoulder for support while the bag hung on the left side of my body. "I had made it for you… I might as well give it to you now… A sort of…gift…to wish you good luck, as well as something that might help you on your journey…"

I was slightly surprised. I looked at it, noticing the emblem of a wolf, my cutie mark, hanging in the middle where the bag opened. It was shiny silver while the rest of the bag was black. I smiled tenderly, feeling a bit touched with Luna's gift. I threw my forelegs around her and held her tight. "Thank you…mom…"

She returned this embrace, but we eventually had to pull away. After assuring my safety through facial expressions, I turned back to Twilight. "Okay… Let's do this." As we both began walking towards the mirror, the girls gave us confident words of encouragement. I could tell that they knew we would be alright, and that they would be waiting for us when we'd be back. Twilight dipped the tip of her hoof into the mirror, but immediately retracted it when she saw the immense glow that emerged. Twilight looked at me in worriment. "We better hold hooves so we don't get separated somehow…" Twilight nodded and grabbed my hoof, almost holding it tightly as if she was scared. "Okay…we'll go on three…" I inhaled and released a deep exhale. "One…two…three!"

Still holding each other's hoof, we quickly stepped into the mirror, letting whatever take us to this "other side". We were immediately sucked into this whirling vortex. Twilight released a small cry of surprise as we were taken for a wild ride, heading to who knows where. However, I held her hoof tightly, making sure we wouldn't be separated.

* * *

My eyes were closed. I didn't know what happened. However, I heard Twilight groan. I felt some weight on top of me, so I assumed Twilight had landed on me after our rough ride. But something was different… just the way I felt… Like…especially Twilight. Her form just felt different. I just couldn't explain why.

"Ugh…Alex…are you oka—" She cut off her question as I began opening my eyes from a daze. "What the?! What happened to you?!"

"What…?" I fully opened my eyes, removing the blur and seeing Twilight clearly, only it WASN'T exactly her! She looked like herself, but completely different at the same time! "What happened to me?!" I exclaimed, ready to turn the table around. "What happened to _YOU_?!"

"What do you mea—" She was cut off once again when she raised these…two things where her hooves were supposed to be. She stared at them in shock for a moment. Suddenly, she screamed out loud. I quickly picked up my hoof and placed it on her mouth to stop her screaming, but then I noticed that I didn't have hooves anymore. I had…what _she_ had! I removed the bottom part of my body from under her in order to sit more correctly and study what happened to me in shock.

She noticed this as well and grabbed the part that replaced my hoof. She picked up hers as well and then placed mine on hers. She observed it in a surprised manner, later gasping. She used hers to mess with mine, flexing whatever I had on my former hooves. She picked up both of hers and started panicking, completely not knowing what to do as she waved them around as if she wanted them gone at that moment.

Soon enough, she began hyperventilating. "Wha-What's going on?! I don't know what to do! I don't know what's going on!"

I placed my hooves…or whatever I had on her shoulders and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Twilight, calm down! Just take a deep breath! I know this is weird but you need to relax!"

"Yeah, Twilight, you totally need to calm down." We heard another familiar voice nearby, causing us to slowly look to our left.

What we saw shocked us both even more.

It was Spike, only…he wasn't a dragon anymore.

We stared at him as him only eyed each of us questioningly. "What?"

"Spike…you're…you're a dog!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh?" He turned around; attempting to analyze himself, but most obviously noticed his tail. "I…I am! What?!"

Twilight managed to inhale a deep breath and slowly exhale, calming herself down and clearing her mind…for a moment. "Spike…what does the rest of us look like?"

"Well…" Spike observed us. "I mean…you guys look like you…only…not you… Both of your muzzles are really small!"

"Our muzzles?!" Twilight cried out and we both looked at each other. Then, we poked each of our muzzles, which were in fact absolutely small!

Twilight began to panic greatly again. She then released a high pitch squeal, as if she was about to yell out again, initiating me to place my…uh…former hoof to her mouth.

"Are you gonna scream again?" Spike asked. Twilight shook her head, allowing me to remove my former hoof. Afterwards, we looked around, noticing the completely different atmosphere and surroundings we were in. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Twilight responded worriedly, moving towards where we were thrown out. "But that must serve as the gateway back to Equestria." She placed her former hoof through it, revealing her actual hoof through it. It was as if that magical barrier changed us! "We need to find our crowns as soon as possible and get back there." Twilight advised with a now determined look and turned around to face the building behind us. "I suggest we start searching the castle first."

"Works for me." Spike agreed and climbed abroad her back.

Twilight positioned herself to gallop, but I looked at my body and found it quite weird and difficult to do with such a form. "Uh…how exactly do we gallop like this?" I asked as I continued observing myself. However, Twilight already had run off ahead, looking quite…odd.

They came to a stop when another…uh…guy was walking his dog past them. He looked at them oddly.

"Yeah," Spike muttered to Twilight. "…I don't think that's how the new you is supposed to..."

Twilight quickly jumped up and dusted off what appeared to be her skirt.

"Huh…" I looked at the ground and noticed my legs. I flimsy tried to position them straight on the ground. I used my former hooves to help push me up, nothing too far from being a pony. However, I had some trouble adjusting when I was only on my legs. I tried walking to them, doing this as the other guy continued looking at Twilight strangely. Afterwards, he made a signal to his dog and continued moving on. I managed to reach Twilight, who was having trouble with her own legs as well. She appeared as if she was about to fall, so I quickly grabbed her former hoof with mine. Feeling unbalanced, she wrapped her former front legs around my body, holding me for support. "Huh… Just like Pinkie walks sometimes…" I mentioned.

"Come on." Twilight announced and placed her former hooves on my shoulders to push herself up straight. She began wobbling towards the building, but stopped at a nearby railing, holding that to keep herself up. I tried to stay behind her. "Let's hurry up and find our crowns! I do not wanna be like this for longer than I have to." She pulled herself up the steps using the railing. I tried walking without it, but had to keep my eyes on my…uh…where my back hooves were supposed to be.

"Look on the bright side." Spike commented towards Twilight. "You don't have those pesky wings to worry about anymore!"

Twilight returned a narrowed annoyed look, causing Spike to think twice about what he said.

Once I was up the steps with Twilight, she closed her eyes and moved her head around towards the door. Instead, she slammed it face-first.

"Whoa!" I grabbed her and pulled her slightly away from the door, turning her to face me. "Are you alright?!" I analyzed her face for any injuries.

"Yeah…yeah…" She rubbed her head. "Hold on." She turned her head back towards the door and began focusing on it, as if she was trying to activate her magic on it. Suddenly, she gasped. "My magic!" She faced me. "It isn't working!"

"Makes sense." Spike answered looking at the both of us. "You two don't exactly have your horns."

"WHAT?" Twilight exclaimed, looking above her head and pulling her hair straight down.

"We really need to find you a mirror…" Spike returned.

I flapped my former hoof, which was actually more flexible, on top of my head. "So what…? We're pretty much like earth ponies?" I inquired.

"Yeah…without the pony…" Spike responded and opened the door to the building.

"Well…I guess it isn't much of a big change for me since I _did_ live most of my life as an earth pony…" I mentioned as we looked and then walked inside.

I began observing around in this, weird looking "castle", but something suddenly caught Twilight's attention causing her to run towards it. I followed her, noticing a display case with shiny artifacts inside. "What do you think, Alex?" She asked me, eyeing the objects closely. "Are these artifacts she's stolen from Equestria?"

"I don't know… I don't see any crowns here…" I returned.

Twilight continued eyeing around until she saw our reflections, which deeply surprised me as well. "What are we…?"

I looked at my mirrored reflection. Where did this all come from…? A black hoodie? Pants? Shoes? A sling backpack? A watch? Wristband? What?!

Unexpectedly, the hallway echoed with a loud ring of a bell, bringing in a swarm of other forms like us. I raised my former front leg and placed it in front of Twilight's chest, pushing and holding her towards the wall so we wouldn't be caught in whatever stampede-looking event that was going on.

The crowd eventually died down a little and instead of moving dangers, they all just stood still and talked to each other at one place. Twilight and I could only observe this with slightly widened eyes.

"I don't think this is a castle…" Spike offered.

"Wherever we are…we need to learn what are…and fast…" I suggested.

"And I know just the thing!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What?" I questioned.

"Research!"

"Research?"

"You know, studying?"

"Do we really have time for that?"

"Not book studying! I mean, yeah it would help, but we can just watch what others here do and learn from them!"

"…of course…"

"Come on…" Twilight grabbed my former hoof and held onto it. "Let's see what we can learn. This place is already freaking me out enough…"

I silently agreed with her and began walking. Spike trailed behind us as he participated in our observance towards others. Through our walk, Twilight and I continued to spot these…odd looking individuals. They were laughing with others or doing their own thing. Lockers seemed to fill the sides of the hallways. I noticed Twilight having trouble taking all this is, presenting a really uneasy expression. I was really surprised by these new surroundings, though I fortunately wasn't as worried as Twilight. Sure, I was in a completely new place I've never been before, but if I was alone, I most likely would have been desperately freaking out inside. Right now, I'm just glad that Twilight and Spike are with me.

Suddenly, my former hoof jerked forward. I looked front to see Twilight losing her balance and about to trip until I quickly placed my other hoof on her to support her. She faced me for what I did and smiled lightly as she nodded. She looked at her own former hooves and was able to contract them, appearing to feel confident, which allowed me to smile in content as well.

We hid around corners, not trying to attract much attention, and observed individuals in a group. In one group, there was someone playing with a sack or ball of some sort. In another, there was one lecturing from a book to two others, a bit dramatically. And then, there was another couple connecting their former hooves just like we were. Strange… We came across a room and looked inside a window. We noticed a female scribbling on a chalkboard, which held equations and formulas. That really looks familiar…

When we turned around, Twilight took the opportunity to observe the clothes she was wearing, presenting a sort of confused look on her face after noticing everyone else wearing clothes of the sort as well.

We continued our journey through the extraordinary hallways, where the population seemed to grow less dense as time passed. Catching us off guard, a girl on a scooter almost bumped into us. She stopped before she could hit us, merely moved around in a second, and continued forward, looking back at us with a curious expression. Is it just me…or did that girl look extremely like Scootaloo back home?

To an even greater surprise, two more familiar girls ran past us, seeming to chase the girl on the scooter. Those other two looked exactly like Sweetie Belle and Applebloom as well! I believe Twilight noticed this when she shared a look with Spike.

"I wonder what's in this room." Twilight commented, leading me to a different looking door than any other the ones here. She merely had to push it open. As soon as we walked in, the type of room seemed recognizable.

"Looks like a bathroom…" I answered as I looked around, especially noticing the stalls and sinks.

Twilight noticed a much clearer mirror, taking me to see our reflections on it with much more detail. However, before we could analyze ourselves thoroughly, one of the stall doors opened. Twilight and I immediately looked to who it was and found out that it was a male. He instantly freaked out and closed the stall door. Twilight strongly pulled on my former hoof and took me out of there as soon as possible.

Afterwards, with Spike tugging Twilight in fright, we both only stood to the side in front of some lockers. Seeing Twilight from the peripheral view, she appeared to be silently frightened in the inside, holding my former hoof almost like a little girl wanting to go home. I sighed quietly and only continued staring out at the crowd that passed us.

When Twilight finally felt safe enough to continue walking through the hallways cautiously, she began speaking.

"Okay… I think I overheard someone talking about 'hands' or something…" She mentioned. "He was looking at these." She stopped, and pulled up our former hooves to our face. "So I guess where our hooves are supposed to be, these things are actually called 'hands'…"

"I…suppose so…" I answered, taking in the new word.

"I'm really sorry." We heard a promptly recognizable voice around the corner. Twilight placed a hand above her head, near her ear. However, she realized her ears were not the same as when we were ponies and found that her actual ears were much smaller. "I just found them, and I thought I should give them to her." Twilight, Spike, and I looked past the corner. "I didn't know _you_ had dropped them."

There we saw two girls confronting a rather timid looking one.

"Well, I did! And I was about to get them before you swooped in and _ruined_ everything!" The one with fiery-colored hair answered angrily. A strand of the timid girl's hair fell to her face, causing her to notice it and place it back behind her ear. …Fluttershy? "You shouldn't pick up things that don't belong to you."

"They... don't really belong to you, either…" She returned.

"Excuse me?!" The angry one immediately slammed her hands on the lockers and trapped her inside. I gasped.

"N-n-nothing..." She slowly slid down on the locker.

"That's what I thought. They're as good as mine and you know it."

Spike began to growl beneath me, and I was having just enough of whoever this bully girl was.

However, the other one next to her sighed. "Give it up. She's not going to help us anymore. She already made it worse and is only wasting our time."

The girl on the left, the one with a fierce attitude, shot a short glare towards her and then looked back at the timid one. "You really _are_ pathetic. It's no wonder your best friends are all stray animals."

I growled. I wasn't sure if this girl was really Fluttershy, but whatever the case was, no girl should be treated in such a way. "Hey!" I revealed myself, catching both of their attention. I stormed towards them, pointing fiercely. "You have _no_ right to talk to her like that!"

"_Excuse_ me?" She turned around, facing me.

Her apparent friend turned around and shot a widened look once she noticed me.

"He _said_ you have no right to be such a bully to her!" Twilight joined me by my side, bringing Spike along with her.

The fierce one stormed towards us as well, leaving behind the other one.

We looked at each other in a glare for a moment until she released a greatly familiar sly smirk. "How cute. You two must be new here. I can speak to anyone any way I want."

"Says who?" I asked, continuing to keep my aggressive attitude towards her.

The girl studied me angrily for a moment. It wasn't until her friend walked towards us and advised her. "Let's just go."

Continuing to glare at me a little while longer, she eventually turned around and walked away with her. "Seriously, I give you _one_ little thing to do and you can't handle it?!" She asked the other girl as they walked.

"Hey, try holding two with your mouth! It was like being in a roller coaster!" The other answered, their dialogue trailing off.

"I can't believe you two did that!" The timid one exclaimed, holding her contracted hands to her face in surprise.

"We couldn't just stand there." Twilight answered.

"Well, it's just that nobody ever stands up to Sunset Shimmer!"

I widened my eyes. How didn't I see it before?!

"Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight asked, surprised of this answer as well. She looked back at where the two headed at.

"You've heard of her?" She questioned.

"Sort of..." Twilight returned hesitantly.

"I don't think I've seen you two around before. Did you just transfer to Canterlot High from another school?"

Twilight and I looked at each other with silent shock.

"Um... yes! Another...heh…school! My name's Twilight." Twilight introduced herself, even adding a motion of her hands and leg.

"Alex." I added briefly.

The girl looked shyly to the left…just like Fluttershy would do… "I'm... Fluttershy." She answered quietly, but I wasn't clearly sure from the low volume.

"Sorry, what was that?" Twilight asked, holding a hand next to her ear.

"It's Fluttershy!" She backed away, held her head low, and returned the same answer even quieter.

"…you mean…your name is…Fluttershy…?" I gently asked, moving a bit towards her.

She nodded nervously.

I gasped and quickly rushed over to her to hug her tightly. As soon as I did, her body tightened up and she released a high pitched "Eep!". I slightly pulled away and placed my hands on her compassionately, looking at her face. "Are you alright..?"

She couldn't answer. Her face turned red hot. It appeared that she was sweating as well. All she could return were quiet whimpering noises.

Twilight quickly came to my aid, pulling me away softly and apologizing as she chuckled nervously. "Sorry, he gets really touchy when it comes to the feelings of others."

Fluttershy didn't answer and only stared at the floor in embarrassment.

"What's going on, Twilight?" I whispered to her worriedly. "Why is it like she doesn't even remember us…?"

"The rest of the girls didn't come with us, remember? These must be their…alternate…lives or something…I don't know!" She responded.

I merely sighed and looked back at her.

Her eyes were trailing along the floor until her face beamed with happiness.

"Oh my goodness!" She ran over to Spike and kneeled down. "Who's this sweet little guy?"

"That's Spike! My, uh... dog!" Twilight safely pointed out.

"Oh, he's so cute!" She held his face and cheeks towards her. After, she released them and retrieved something from her bag. "Go on, eat up, little pup!" She held out a bone-shaped biscuit for him. Spike stepped forward and took a bite. He munched on it for a while until he showed some excitement and began eating the whole treat.

"Oh, wouldn't you just give anything to know what they're really thinking?" She asked in wonder.

"He usually just te—"

I placed my hand on Twilight's mouth, shaking my head.

"Huh?" Fluttershy looked back at us.

"Oh, uh nothing!" Twilight realized her mistake nervously. "Never mind." Fluttershy returned to gazing back at Spike. "Sunset Shimmer said you picked some things up. Some things that belonged to her. It wouldn't be a couple of crowns, would it?"

Fluttershy looked back in curiosity and stood up. "How did you know?"

"Uh, lucky guess? Do you still have them?" Twilight asked excitedly.

"Mm-mm." Fluttershy shook her head.

"But you know what happened to them."

"Mm-hmm. This morning, I was passing out flyers for the animal shelter like I do every Wednesday. I had suddenly felt two things hit my head. When I looked next to me, there were two crowns." She sat by Spike and petted him. "I have no idea how they got there. But I didn't want anything to happen to them, so I decided to give them to Principal Celestia."

"_Principal_ Celestia?" Twilight inquired, noticing the change in Princess. "She's the ruler here?"

Fluttershy stood up. "You could say that…" She returned with her eyes looking back in thought. "Technically, I guess she and Vice Principal Luna _do_ make the rules."

"_Vice Principal_ Luna?!" I couldn't help but exclaim out loud.

"Where is she now?" Twilight included.

"Probably in her office." Fluttershy shrugged. Twilight immediately grabbed my hand and ran the opposite direction. However, she realized that we both didn't even know where it was, so she took me back to Fluttershy. "Third door on your left." She directed as Spike had come back from his own mix up.

"Thank you!" Twilight began running off again.

"Oh wait!" Fluttershy exclaimed, stopping Twilight and me. "You're not really supposed to have pets on school grounds." She pointed at Spike. "Might wanna tuck him into your backpack." She advised softly. "That's what I do!" She turned around, revealing her yellow backpack with her cutie mark on the back. A bunny, cat, and bird suddenly popped out from inside. They jumped out and cuddled with her, causing her to sit down and return a mutual feeling. "They just get so lonely when I'm in school all day."

"Oh, okay! Thank you!" Twilight expressed.

The apparent school bell rang, having Fluttershy exclaim in surprise. "Oh no! I'm late for class!" With one quick sweep of her backpack, she got her critters back inside and raced off.

Twilight and I turned around to find the door Celestia was apparently in.

I couldn't help but release a sad sigh.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"It's just…seeing Fluttershy, only to know that she actually doesn't know you here…"

Twilight softly smiled and embraced me from the side. "Don't worry. You'll see her soon enough."

She knocked on the door when we reached it. "Come in." We heard from inside. Twilight readied herself to a bow and walked in. However, Tia was reading through what appeared to be a folder in front of her face and wasn't paying much attention. "How may I help you?"

Twilight raised herself and looked at me questionably. Nonetheless, she placed the bag with Spike in on the ground. "Um, uh... Whew." She seemed to have trouble introducing herself. Tia lowered the folder and seemed to stare at us with an uninterested look on her face. "My name's Twilight Sparkle. This is Alex." She presented me. "We're new here, and well, I understand that Fluttershy found a couple of crowns this morning and gave them to you."

"Yes." She closed the folder and stood up. "I've had Vice Principal Luna put them somewhere for safekeeping." She walked over to a cabinet and placed the folder inside. "No idea how they ended up in the front lawn." She closed it. "Were you two interested in running for Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal this year?"

My eyebrow raised in a curious way. "Uh, no. Not exactly. The truth is..." Twilight tried to think a way to explain herself. "…well, the truth is I... you see, the crown is actually..." She stopped and brought back Tia's question. "Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal?"

"It's Canterlot High's big fall dance." Tia answered, marking her calendar.

"Like the Grand Galloping Gala!" Twilight brought up.

"Uh, Grand Galloping Gala?" Tia asked slowly, clearing revealing that she had no idea what it was.

"Oh, it was a…" Twilight and I heard Spike pop his head out of the backpack, having her quickly tuck it back in. "…big deal at our old school."

"And was there a prince and princess?" Tia returned to her calendar.

I rolled my eyes irritably at the thought of it.

"Yes, but they weren't exactly students."

As Tia began explaining what exactly this…dance was, I noticed a row of picture frames with Sunset Shimmer holding the crown of the dance on her head. The first one was her innocently surprised. The second, she appeared to know that she was already going to win. And the last one…well…let's just say she looked to be mad with power… "Here at Canterlot High, the students select two of their peers, a male and a female, to represent them. They receive a crown at the Fall Formal."

"You asked us if we were interested in running for Prince and Princess..." Twilight mentioned, walking out the door as I followed her. "Can anyone run?"

"Yes, you just need to let the head of the fall formal planning committee know you'd like to be on the ballot." Tia answered, placing a hand on her door, ready to close it. "Was there anything else?"

"Um, nope! That was it!"

"Thanks for the information, Tia." I expressed, causing Twilight to widen her eyes. I did the same once I realized what I just said.

"…what was that?" She asked from the doorway.

"Um…nothing _Principal_ Celestia! Thank you!" I quickly corrected.

She continued staring at me for a moment.

"…well, if you do need anything else, my door is always open." Ironically, she immediately slammed it shut afterwards.

Twilight and I walked out of there and back into the hallway.

"You have to be careful, Alex…" Twilight warned softly towards me. "You can't keep bringing up things from Equestria…"

I sighed and stared at the ground. "I know…"

Nevertheless, Twilight smiled and grabbed my hand, holding on to it.

"Twilight, why didn't you guys just tell her the crowns are yours and ask for them back?" Spike asked, poking his head out of her backpack.

"I was going to, but imagine if one of them showed up in Equestria saying they came from a place filled with tall bushy two-legged creatures with these?" She wagged her foreign body parts around, emphasizing her point. "We'd think they were crazy!"

We noticed another guy staring at us from afar. He quickly looked back and slowly backed away.

"Hmm. You make a good point." Spike commented.

"Looks like if we want our crowns back, we'll have to become Prince and Princess of the Canterlot High Fall Formal. So that's what we're gonna do!" She stretched out her body and took my hand high towards the air.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Spike rained down on her confidence.

Keeping the huge grin on her face, she shook her head. "I have no idea!"

The school bell rang out loud, beginning the stampede of students in the hall. Twilight flinched, covering her head with her hands, but I quickly pulled her away and to the side of the wall with me, allowing the students flow normally.

Twilight released a breath of relief. "Thanks, Alex…"

"We have to stick together, don't we?" I asked, bringing her to a short smile.

However, she seemed to notice something past me. "Hey, look! There's Fluttershy!" She pointed to her, who was tugging and keeping her backpack closely. She seemed to try to keep attention away from her in the crowd as well. "If there's anyone that can help us start off at getting our crowns back, it's her. Come on." She lightly tugged me to follow her. We attempted to cautiously maneuver in the crowd, as the most of them seemed to be heading in the same direction. "Hey, Fluttershy!" Twilight greeted, slightly startling her.

"Oh! Hey, Twilight…" She returned.

"Where are you headed off to?"

"To the cafeteria."

"Cafeteria?"

"Yes…you know…for lunch…"

We walked by Fluttershy's side, eventually leading us to this huge room with tables spread out everywhere. There were already students with plates of food in front of them as they sat and talked with one another. I heard Twilight's stomach rumble. "Oh, good! I could really use something to eat!" Fluttershy led us to a line, where students seemed to be getting their food. "All this walking and running around has made me kind of hungry." Fluttershy grabbed a big blue tray and placed it on the counter. As she looked among the variety of food in front of her, Twilight and I followed what she did. "Listen…I know we've just met, but I was wondering if you might be able to help us with something.

Not exactly knowing what to get, I just grabbed whatever Twilight and Fluttershy grabbed.

"Of course!" Fluttershy responded positively.

Twilight and Fluttershy both grabbed a bowl of fruit and salad. Twilight held the bowl in her hand. "We've decided to run for Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal and—"

Before Twilight could finish, Fluttershy released a fearful gasp, accidentally spilling her own bowl on Twilight's clothes. "Oh, gosh!" She quickly looked around and grabbed some napkins nearby. "Sorry!" She hurriedly attempted to clean them. "It's just, oh, running for Fall Formal Princess is a REALLY bad idea." Fluttershy finished wiping and gently threw the napkins away.

"Why?" Twilight questioned.

"Sunset Shimmer wants to be Fall Formal Princess, and when she wants something, she gets it!" She emphasized by pointing and spoke in a loud hushed tone. "She'll make life awful for anyone that stands in her way." Fluttershy held out her tray to a _really_ familiar lady at the end, who placed an apple on her tray, then eventually on Twilight's and mine. "Just ask the girl that ran against her for Princess of the Spring Fling."

As Twilight and Fluttershy continued conversing, I walked by their side and couldn't help but look back at the girls who looked exactly like the Cutie Mark Crusaders back home. I felt a little homesick, but I couldn't let that distract me.

"We have to try!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh, I don't think you understand. You'd have to convince everyone here to vote for you instead of her: the athletes, the fashionistas, the dramas, the eco kids, the techies, the rockers." She directed to every one of those groups, doing their own group representing thing at each table.

"Why is everypony..." At that word, Spike came out of her backpack and smacked her on the head, retreating back inside. "…uhh, every_body_, separated this way?" She corrected after Fluttershy eyed her confusingly.

"Maybe it was different at your old school, but at C.H.S., everybody sticks to their own kind." Fluttershy took a seat by the table next to her. I wanted to sit right by her, close enough where I could actually touch her, but then I remembered that she wasn't the Fluttershy that knew me like back home, so I sadly followed Twilight and sat next to her instead. "One thing that they do have in common, is that they know Sunset Shimmer is going to rule the school until we graduate." Fluttershy messed with her spoon in the salad and then, using her hands, picked it up and placed the fruit in her mouth. I decided to follow this same manner.

"Not if I can help it!" Twilight reported confidently and then forced her head towards the apple, biting it and picking it up with her teeth. Fluttershy noticed Twilight not using her hands, and backed her head away from the bowl, confused at her action. Twilight looked at her, then at me, and then back at her, noticing her error. She used her hands to hold the apple instead. "So, ah…" She giggled nervously. "Where would I find the head of the party planning committee?"

"You can usually find her in the gym… Ever since the announcement of the Fall Formal, she's been spending as much free time as she has preparing the gym."

"Well, sounds pretty straightforward." Twilight turned to me. "Looks like that's where we're headed next. Oh!" She suddenly remembered something and looked at Fluttershy. "You said that Sunset Shimmer is always winning the Princess part of the Fall Formal right?"

"Yes?" Fluttershy replied.

"What about the Prince? Who wins that?"

"Well…it used to be someone she had dated but…it's a long story…"

"Huh…" Twilight thought for a moment.

"Fluttershy…" I began talking to her, actually almost feeling nervous as if I had technically never met her before, which was somewhat true. "I don't suppose you know who that girl was next to Sunset Shimmers when she was asking you about the crowns, do you?"

Fluttershy's eyes turned to the bowl of her fruit once she began speaking. "No…not really…" Her eyes reached mine, but then quickly retreated back to the bowl. "Sorry…"

"Oh…" I sunk a little back in my chair.

There was a moment of silence before Fluttershy decided to speak up again. "So…um…you two said you were going to run for the Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal, right?"

"Yeah." Twilight returned.

"So…uh…um…" Fluttershy seemed a little hesitant about what she wanted to say. "You're…um…dating or something…?"

This caused Twilight and I to reveal widened eyes in surprised, sharing a look with each other.

"Uh…" Twilight was speechless.

"I _have_ seen you both holding hands…" Fluttershy mentioned quietly.

We couldn't say anything. That's when Twilight nervously decided to give us a break. "Um, can you excuse us for just one teeny tiny second?"

"Sure…" Fluttershy returned as Twilight quickly grabbed my hand led me to somewhere more…well…not exactly private, but away from Fluttershy.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked Twilight as we stood in the corner of the room.

"Yeah." Spike added, popping out of her bag. "You guys aren't dating, are you?"

"Well, no." Twilight replied. "But…um…I think we're going to have to pretend that we are…"

"Huh?" Both Spike and I questioned, a bit surprised.

"The Fall Formal. It's a dance right?" Twilight asked, gaining both a nod from Spike and me. "Well, Fluttershy said that the Prince used to go to someone Sunset Shimmer dated while she was a Princess. Now, I don't know how exactly it works, but I think it'd be best if we have everyone else here think that we _are_ together. Otherwise, it'd make this job even more complicated! Better everyone here recognizes us as one, instead of two separate runners. Do you understand?"

"I…I guess…"

"Don't worry." Twilight assured. "You don't need do anything drastic, just um…" She looked at her hand and shrugged. "Hold my hand a lot, I guess?" She held it out towards me.

I stared it for a moment and then sighed lightly and a bit sadly. "Okay…" I grabbed it and held it.

Spike sighed as well. "Whatever you two say…" He then retreated back inside her backpack.

Twilight and I began walking back to the table. As we did, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about the situation. Of course, I wasn't uneasy because I felt uncomfortable about "pretending" to be Twilight's boyfriend. It's not that at all. It was just…the "pretending" reminded me of Fluttershy back home, inducing more homesickness into me. But hey…as soon as we get this done, the faster we can get back home.

"We're back! Sorry about that." Twilight told Fluttershy as we sat back down together. "To answer your question, we _are_ dating, that's why we're both running for Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal." Twilight looked over to me. "Right?"

I tried to form a small grin. "Heh…right…"

"Oh…well…that's nice, I guess…" The volume of Fluttershy's words slowly decreased throughout the sentence. "Um…I should probably get going… I'm sure my animal friends are going to be a little hungry, so I might as well sneak some food for them…" She stood up and faced us, still presenting a slight shyness. "Good luck…B-bye…" Afterwards, she walked off.

Twilight and I finished up whatever we could, and started off for the gymnasium.

* * *

The gym wasn't too far or hard to find. There was an obvious placard type of sign by the huge double doors that stood out from any other door.

Twilight and I looked at each other. "Looks like this is it…" I said.

I opened the door and allowed Twilight to walk in first, following after her. We looked around and noticed balloons, streamers, and many more party decorations around. In the middle of our investigation, we heard a loud joyful cry scream out.

"Incoming!"

Immediately after, we were pummeled by a rain of streamers. However, we merely shook any on us off and walked over to the person responsible. As we reached her, she pulled out a balloon, inhaled deeply, and blew air into the balloon, inflating it.

"Hi, my name's Twilight Sparkle and..." The girl in front of us turned around, causing the both of us to duck to avoid the extremely long balloon. "Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked after we both had a good look of her face. It did make sense now…

Pinkie removed her lips from the balloon in shock, allowing it to deflate completely in front of her.

"Huh, are you psychic?" Pinkie demanded pulling on Twilight's collar and eyeing her directly.

"Uh, no. I don't think so, unless of course that's something you can do here." Twilight responded, leaving Pinkie to let her go.

I caught her before she fell to the ground, pushing her back up.

"Eh, not usually." Pinkie Pie shrugged and walked away to continue on with her work.

"Fluttershy said this is where we'd find the head of the Fall Formal planning committee." Twilight mentioned.

"Fluttershy, huh?" Pinkie tied the end of the balloon and released it. "Don't let the whole 'shy' thing fool you, she can be a real meanie."

"Meanie?" I questioned, unable to believe such a thing.

"You two aren't friends?" Twilight inquired about, confused about the situation as well.

"Weird a bit to get your name on the ballot, huh?" Pinkie returned, not exactly answering our questions. "Dance is the day after tomorrow."

"We're brand new here."

"Oooh!" Pinkie squealed in delight. "I thought you two didn't look familiar." However, she faced her attention more on Twilight. Then, she began analyzing her more thoroughly, moving her body around. "Though, now that I'm really lookin' at you, do you have a twin sister who lives in the city, has a pet dog named Spike that looks just like that one?" She asked, pointing at Spike who was too busy messing with a balloon.

"Uh…" Twilight wondered, not exactly knowing what to say. "Maybe?" She shrugged.

"Thought so. Anywho," Pinkie pulled out a clipboard from her hair and presented it to Twilight. "Just need to fill this out and you are officially up for the coveted Princess of the Fall Formal crown." She also searched through her hair and pulled something else out: a pen.

"Great." Twilight responded. "Alex here will be running for the Prince position."

"Ahh!" Pinkie reacted. "You're lucky that no other guy wants to be an _inch_ near Sunset Shimmers, so you have a good chance!" She patted my head.

"Hah…thanks." I expressed.

Pinkie Pie returned her attention to Twilight. Twilight remained still, looking at Pinkie with a smile. Pinkie returned the same expression and blinked her eyes. When Twilight realized Pinkie was waiting for her to sign, she frowned and then pulled out a nervous grin. She opened her mouth and grabbed the pen with her teeth instead, seeing how she usually uses her magic for doing such a task. Pinkie didn't seem to mind much. She only continued smiling, blinking twice. Twilight must had remembered the "hands" thing as she pulled up her hand and grabbed the pen with it instead. She seemed to make a fist and write on the paper with a completely still and inflexible motion. Afterwards, Pinkie presented the clipboard in front of me.

Twilight passed the pen over to me, but instead of making a fist, I used only two of those five uh…what were they…fingers I think…to hold the pen.

"Go ahead and sign on the next page." Pinkie mentioned.

Using my left hand, I flipped the front page up and noticed an empty paper beneath. I attempted my best sign my name, but I couldn't help but feel the scribbling unsteady. Nonetheless, since my name was pretty short, I finished in a few seconds. I released the grip of the front page and allowed it to fall on top of the page with my name. I noticed Twilight's huge scribble of her name and widened my eyes.

Pinkie Pie turned the clipboard around and widened her eyes upon seeing it as well. "Wow!" She exclaimed flipping the page to see my signature as well. "No offense, but you two have _really_ bad handwriting. It's like you've never held a pen before."

Twilight laughed nervously. "Is it?"

"Somebody order a dozen cases of fizzy apple cider?" A figured appeared by the open door, holding not only a recognizable voice, but a huge case of "fizzy apple cider".

"Oh oh! Me, me, me, me, me, yeah, ha ha, me!" Pinkie skipped over to person that dropped the case on the table.

She lifted up her cowboy hat and wiped her forehead.

Twilight opened her mouth in surprised as I whispered under my breath. "…Applejack?"

"Can you bring in the rest?" She asked someone outside the door.

"Eeyup." He answered, revealing himself before he even came in with his usual saying.

Applejack carried one of the cases Big Macintosh was carrying and moved it over to the table. However, she stopped to notice Twilight and me. "Hey, I know you two."

"You do?" Twilight and I asked simultaneously.

"Sure, you're the new students who gave Sunset Shimmer the what for today." She swung the bottle of cider to her lips and pulled the cap off with her teeth. She spat out the cap and gulped the cider.

"Twilight Sparkle and Alex here are going to run against Sunset Shimmer for the Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal!" Pinkie Pie mentioned, holding another balloon in her hand.

Applejack immediately spat out her cider as Pinkie inflated a heart-shaped balloon. Applejack faced the two of us, wiping her mouth. "I'd think twice about that! I'm sure she'll approach you all friendly like..." Applejack stopped, noticing Pinkie float in the air with the balloon she just filled, and pulled her down. She grabbed the heart-shaped balloon and began scribbling on it while Pinkie inflated another one. She held it up for us to see that it was Sunset Shimmer drawn on it. "I sure am looking forward to some friendly competition!" She faked her voice as Sunset Shimmer and then moved on to the other balloon that Pinkie had, which drawn Twilight was on. "That's so good to hear." Applejack returned to her usual voice and turned Sunset Shimmer's balloon around, revealing a needle behind. "But then, here comes the backstabbing." She poked the needle in Twilight's balloon, popping it. She turned towards me. "And for you, trust me, you wouldn't want to be _near_ Sunset Shimmer if she wins Princess of the Fall Formal." I didn't really say anything from that. Just from her interaction with Fluttershy, I didn't need any evidence to know that was the truth. Applejack released her grip on the heart-shaped balloon, allowing Pinkie to jump and catch the end with her teeth. "However, about the only girl in this school you can trust less than Sunset Shimmer is Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight and I both questioned simultaneously once again.

"She's the captain of, like, _every_ team at Canterlot High!" Pinkie surprised us when she passed by us, bouncing on a huge yellow balloon but eventually popping it.

"She's also the captain saying of how she's going to do something for ya and turning around and not even bothering to show up."

Twilight and I shared a look with each other.

"Sounds like Rainbow Dash…" I muttered, shrugging.

Twilight looked at Applejack and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for the advice Applejack, but this is something we really need to do."

"Huh, suit yourself." Applejack rolled her eyes back, not intervening. "Hey, how do you know my name is Applejack?" She scratched her chin and looked curiously at Twilight, who was caught off-guard.

"Um, I uh..." Twilight nervously laughed.

I decided to step in, thinking of something that could possibly work. "We heard someone named Applejack was the most helpful and dependable person in the hallways. Seeing you bring in cases of cider for the Fall Formal, we figured it was you."

"Heh." Applejack chuckled a bit embarrassingly as she rubbed her head. "I wouldn't be so sure to say that…"

I smiled at Applejack's shining modesty.

"Well, it sure was nice meeting you both!" Twilight shook Applejack's hand and waved over to Pinkie. She grabbed my hand and began slowly leading me out. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around!" Once we were out into the partially empty hallway, Twilight released a breath of relief. "Phew. That was close. Thanks."

I returned a shrug.

Spike poked his head out of Twilight's backpack. "So…what are you gonna do now?"

"Hm…" Twilight thought. "I don't really know… Rainbow Dash would probably be the next pony to find…but…I really wouldn't know where to look for her…"

I sighed. "Yeah…I mean…we still feel pretty lost here…" I tapped my head, closing my eyes on thought. "Our main mission is to get our crowns back in three days, including today. To get our crowns back, we have to become Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal. _And_ we can't easily ask for them back, even if we explain why because everyone here will think we're crazy. So…to become Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal we have to get everyone's, or at least the majority of the vote. Now to do that…well…" I shrugged. "We have to probably be nice and get everyone to like us here but…how exactly do we do that…?" I looked back and sighed.

Twilight placed a hand on my shoulder. "We'll think of something." She looked around her. "Let's have a look around and see what we can come across."

"Okay…" I returned, still feeling a little worried.

We roamed the hallways; passing by students that seemed to be spending their lunch time hanging around in the area, as the bell hadn't rang yet. When we reached a fork in the hallway, needing to have us turn either left or right, we must importantly noticed a darkened hallway to the left, which wasn't exactly safe-looking either. The light on the ceiling flickered and an open locker creaked open by itself.

"Can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier." We heard roughly, as if someone was holding in anger through clenched teeth. We turned to see Sunset Shimmer walking towards us. "Should've known Princess Celestia would send her prized pupil and apparent nephew here after my crowns, as well as her little dog, too." She ended, looking at Spike.

"Your crowns?!" I questioned aggressively. "You don't even deserve to look at them!"

"Hmph." Sunset Shimmer continued her spoiled smirk. "Whatever." She flipped her hand carelessly. "This is just a minor setback for me. You two don't know the first thing about this place and I already rule it." She paced around us, clicking memories in my mind.

"You know…" I began, continuing to keep my eye on her. "You awfully remind me a lot of someone I know…"

"Let me guess." She returned. "Long shiny gray bang over her right eye? Light blue coat? A microphone for her cutie mark?"

I gasped, completely surprised by her knowledge of her description. "How do you know that conceited jerk?"

"'Conceited jerk'? Now that's not very nice…" We heard behind us. Sunset Shimmer's eyes turned slightly to the right.

Twilight and I looked back.

As I was able to observe her body fully, I was able to recognize who this was. She had that same long gray bang across her right eye, but this time, the back of her hair was in a ponytail. She seemed to wear a small leather jacket with a white T-shirt underneath. For her underclothing, there were short shorts, revealing most of her legs. Her shoes didn't really stand out like Sunset Shimmer.

"Starlight?!" I called, unable to immediately believe it was her.

She poured a smug look on her face and shrugged, closing her eyes and lifting her hands up in the air. "The one and only."

I remembered back when Sunset Shimmer stole Twilight's crown. She yelled out "Star"… It must have been her then… Starlight was her accomplice!

"It was _you_ who helped Sunset Shimmer steal our crowns!?" I exclaimed.

She merely shrugged again. "Maybe. It's not like you deserved it anyway." She scoffed. "Why, if you were to be given such a high authority, you'd probably lead all of us to our doom. Think of it as saving everypony back in Equestria from absolute chaos."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight questioned. "I doubt you two went out of your way to save our 'ruling' over Equestria. You don't even know what the actual hay is going on!"

"Oh, but we do, Twilight Sparkle." She continued pacing around, stopped in silence for a moment, and then faced us rapidly. "Pop quiz: what happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world?" Twilight was only given a second to think about it until Sunset Shimmer introduded again. "... You don't know? Seriously?" She laughed. I didn't know exactly what she meant. The only thing in my mind was that the elements wouldn't work back home. "And you're supposed to be Princess Celestia's star student? Then again, what were the chances she'd find somepony as bright as me to take under her wing after I decided to leave Equestria. Bit embarrassing that you were the best she could do."

I scoffed. "Pretty ironic to call yourself bright when you mistook _my_ crown as an Element of Harmony."

"What are you talking about?" Sunset Shimmer eyed me with a raised eyebrow.

"I wouldn't really believe him, if I were you." Starlight added, glaring at me mockingly. "He tries to make himself sound important when he's really not."

I growled inside, but chose to ignore Starlight's comment.

"That crown isn't my actual element. It was given to me on my coronation day. It holds no use to you."

"Oh really?" Sunset Shimmer asked me skeptically. "Then why do you want it back so badly?"

"…" I look towards the floor. "My mother gave it to me…"

Starlight narrowed her eyes.

"Oh no." Sunset Shimmer returned in a mocking baby tone. "Poor boy lost his gift from mommy." She scoffed. "Even then, I'm sure you're just trying to buy your way into having me believe this isn't your actual element."

"It's the truth!" I stomped fiercely on the ground.

"Okay then. Prove it." Sunset Shimmer eyed me with a smirk. "Go on." My eyes drifted towards the floor with my angry frown. I didn't really know how to… I mean…unless I somehow create a flash of light within me…but even if I was able to, I wouldn't be sure if it was exactly a good idea… "Hah. I knew." Sunset Shimmer spoke after my moment of silence. "Nice try, but you're going to have to do much better than that."

Spike stretched himself out of Twilight's backpack and growled fiercely as he could.

"Oh, and I'd keep an eye on your mutt. Hate for him to be taken away from you." She warned in a hostile manner, recklessly staring at her nails.

"Is that a threat?" Spike curled his paw into a beckoning fist.

"Oh, of course not." Sunset Shimmer mocked, leading Spike to bark. "But I'd cut down on the chatter if I were you." She pushed Spike's snout backwards with her finger. "Don't want everyone to know you don't belong here, now would you?" She mentioned to us. "You two want to be a Prince and Princess here? Please." She began walking out from under the shaded hallway. "You don't know the first thing about fitting in."

As she continued walking off, Starlight stayed by, but only for a moment. Keeping that annoying smug look on her face, she stared at us for a moment. "Hmph." She shared and then walked off to follow Sunset Shimmer.

We were left in silence in the darkness.

I couldn't help but feel hurt, even though these were our enemies and we had no reason to be down. I placed myself roughly on a closed locker, hearing the bang sound from it, and then slid sadly towards the floor. Remembering that I was wearing a hoodie, I grabbed it and flung it across my head, covering it. After, I rested my hands on my angled knees and lowered my head, facing the floor. I actually even felt the need…well…the need to cry, unfortunately.

"Alex…" I heard Twilight's voice speak out to me empathetically.

I didn't answer.

I just…inhaled a heavy breath and exhaled it.

Steps sounded near me. I could hear Twilight sit near me. There was a moment silence until she lightly embraced me compassionately from the side.

"Come on…we're in this together… You're not alone…" She encouraged.

"I...I know…" I remained silent for another moment until I slowly raised my head and looked towards Twilight. "But…don't you feel so…lost?"

"Well…sure. But it's just for a while. We go through obstacles; we find a way through it, and then move on." She smiled, sharing a small chuckle. "That's something I sort of learned from you…"

"Hm…" I smiled lightly, not from happiness, but recognizing my failures. "It's funny, isn't it? Just a while ago, I was telling you that we're together and we'll make it through anything as long as we stay together. And yet here I am and you're the one who's telling me the same thing… Guess that makes me a hypocrite, huh? I try to give such advice to my friends when I can't even follow it…"

"You're not a hypocrite, Alex. You're a wonderful pony…" She stopped and thought back. "Um…wonderful person, and you can't be any more amazing than you already are. Just because you seem to have trouble following your own advice, it doesn't mean you're a hypocrite. Otherwise, you'd be perfect. No one is perfect. There are only traits that _we_ personally find perfect. Just like…to me… I find you perfect…no matter what anyone else thinks..."

I was actually honestly really touched by Twilight's last statement. Seriously, it caused this good jump in heart. I turned to Twilight, my mouth slightly agape. And then, it softly turned into a smile. "Thanks…Twilight…"

Spike jumped out of her backpack and placed his paws on me excitedly. "Yeah! Come on! We have a lot of work to do if we want to show Sunset Shimmer what we're made of!"

"Hm…" I continued smiling, this time in hope and small happiness. "You're right."

He jumped back into Twilight's backpack in excitement, ready for our departure.

I stood up and held out a hand to help Twilight. She noticed and grinned, placing her hand on mine to accept it. I pulled her up. We both just looked at each other for a moment. And then, I couldn't help but just embrace her so compassionately. She giggled softly and returned it. After a while, we pulled away.

"Let's get going…" I told her, refilled with hope.

* * *

Twilight and I now wandered in the seemingly empty halls. At least the good thing was that it wasn't dark like that one hallway. However, we came across this…foreign object. It seemed like some kind of machine, although, nothing completely advanced like Twilight had in her home. She stopped in front of it, gazing at the snacks inside. She even licked her lips, expressing that she was hungry.

"Didn't you just eat a while ago?" I asked with a small grin.

"Yeah…but…all I really ate was the salad. It was hard to eat enough…"

"Hm…" I lightly rubbed my chin, analyzing the machine. "Well, I'm not exactly sure how you get something out of it…"

Twilight looked to the sides of the machine. "It looks like it could be opened." She grabbed hold onto the side and began pulling it. The machine only returned a creak of movement. For some odd reason, she tried pushing it. When that didn't work she planted her face on the glass covering, specifically eyeing the peanut butter snack inside. Afterwards, she pushed herself to the floor, supporting her body with her hands, and raised her left leg into the air, appearing as if she was going to buck it.

"Uh…"I slipped, not entirely sure of what to make of this.

However, someone else came by, wearing a dress, but a hoodie covering the top.

"Excuse me." She closed her eyes and walked towards the machine. Staring into the machine, she began twirling, if I recall, her fingers mystically. "The GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE..." She announced, adding that infamous roll to her name. "…needs some peanut butter crackers." She finished, kind of cutting off the mood from the first part of her sentence. She held what appeared to be a bit in her hand. She placed it inside a slot and pressed a few buttons. Finally, that snack Twilight was gazing at fell from its row and towards the bottom, allowing Trixie to stick her hand inside the slot below and retrieve her snack. "Voilà!" She presented it towards us. It was as if she KNEW that we had no idea how this machine worked…

"Hm." I expressed as I saw Trixie leave. "I guess she's still a little…you know… in this world."

Twilight smiled lightly. "I know we just had a meaningful talk, and I hate to admit it but… Sunset Shimmer is right. I don't know the first thing about this place. If we're gonna really fit in and win votes, we need to do some research."

"Research?" Spike questioned.

"This place has a school, I have to believe it's got a library." She shrugged.

"Hold on." I mentioned, remembering about my backpack, which was really the bag Luna gave me back in Equestria. I crouched down and pulled off my backpack, placing it in front of me. I noticed the shiny wolf emblem, which served as a sort of zipper on the front for a small pocket. I unzipped it and looked inside, noticing a handful of bits. I looked up at Twilight. "You still want that snack?"

Twilight looked back at the machine and chuckled. "Sure looks treaty…"

I grabbed a bit from the pocket, and zipped it back closed, flinging the backpack around my shoulder and standing back up. "If this machine takes bits…" I walked towards it with a bit ready. "Then…" I placed the bit into the same coin slot Trixie had. I still had to push the buttons, but I didn't really know exactly how that worked. However, I noticed a letter and a number on each row of the snacks. And then I looked at the buttons on the machine, representing a letter and number as well. Putting two and two together, I matched the letter and number with the buttons on the machine towards the ones under the snack. To my success, it was slowly being brought my direction. The clamp holding it up opened…but the snack did not come falling down. "Huh…?" I tried to analyze what was wrong, crouching down to see more of the top of the snack. For some reason, it seemed to have caught stuck on the clamp, so even when it was open, it wouldn't fall down. I narrowed my eyes. I stood up and lightly banged on the machine a bit. Nothing happened. I sighed and walked over to the side of the machine. I gained a little distance and then rushed towards it, hitting it with my shoulder. I looked at the inside as I rubbed my shoulder. It was still there. I walked back to the side and grabbed ahold of the top part of the machine. I attempted to rock it lightly, but not too much. After a moment, I stopped and observed the inside again. Still nothing.

"…wow…" I released, clearing feeling bummed out in an angry kind of way towards this machine.

"Don't worry! I've got this." Spike jumped out of Twilight's backpack and towards the machine. He hopped and slipped in through the hand slot underneath. Once he was inside, he spotted the hanging snack. He shook his rear in preparation and then hopped to grab hold onto the snack with his teeth. However, he soon found himself hanging along with the snack. He furrowed his eyebrows angrily and then began shaking his head, soon whole body to get that snack off. He growled as he fiercely attempted to accomplish his task. Nevertheless, soon enough, the snack popped open, but Spike was thrown against the glass of the machine, slowly sliding down until he reached bottom.

I reached my hand through the slot and pulled out both the snack and Spike.

"You okay…?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Yeah I'm fine." He chuckled a little victoriously. "Good thing I'm a dog, huh?"

I smiled, handing Twilight her snack. "Sure."

"Well, thank you both." Twilight expressed, laughing a little as well.

* * *

Twilight and I resumed our walking, searching for a library.

With her snack opened, she grabbed one of the crackers inside and dipped a piece in the peanut butter next to it. She licked her lips once again when bringing the cracker to her face. She bit off the peanut butter covered piece in her mouth and closed her lips, soon moaning in pleasure with closed eyes. Once she swallowed, she opened her eyes and dipped another part of the cracker into the peanut butter but offered to me instead. "Mm?"

I chuckled at her generous action. "No, thanks."

"Come on!" She brought it closer to my mouth, encouraging for me to take a bite.

I sighed contently. "Okay, okay." I opened my mouth, allowing her to place the piece in for me to bite off. I chewed a bit and then swallowed. It was satisfying, but not exactly something to fight over.

"Mmmm." Twilight nodded her head towards me, hoping that I thought it was just as good.

I could only return a soft chuckle.

"You guys are weird…" Spike commented after noticing our scene.

"Coming from the talking dog?" Twilight countered with.

"Hey! I'm a dragon back where we're from!"

"Heh, yeah." Twilight returned. "A dragon who takes five-hour bubble baths."

"Hmph." He retracted back into her bag a little angrily.

Twilight dipped another piece of the cracker into the peanut butter and placed it into her mouth. "Now if I was a library…where would I be…" Her voice was muffled a bit, due to the cracker inside. We both continued to look around until we noticed a large doorway to our left. We looked inside and it only took us the sight of mountains of books to figure out what it was. "Aha! Let's go!" Twilight grabbed my hand pulled me in with eyes full of excitement.

There was no one else in the library. Figures.

Twilight covered the rest of her snack, placed it in her backpack, and walked over to a female placing books on the shelves. "Excuse me, ma'am. Might we use your books for a little research?"

"Books?" She answered, looking back and noticing us. "Why don't you try the computers? Research is the perfect occasion for their use!" She sent a hearty grin.

"Um…" Twilight looked around. "…computers?"

The grin on the apparent librarian faded away. "Um…yes…the ones right behind you…" She pointed towards another odd looking machine, except it was much smaller.

"Oh." Twilight responded, taking a seat on the chair in front of it. "This computer?"

"…yes…" The librarian turned back around and continued stacking books.

I grabbed a chair nearby and sat down next to Twilight in front of the same computer.

"Okay…um…" Twilight observed the computer confusingly. I had no idea how to use it either. "…how do I do research with this?"

The librarian stopped and slowly turned around to face us again. "…you move the mouse right there and use it to click the internet button on the screen. From there, you can use the keyboard to type and search whatever you're researching for…" She turned back and resumed her stacking.

Twilight remained silent for a moment, analyzing the tools in front of her. She raised her hands and looked at them, and then back at the screen, blinking her eyes in confusion. She moved closer to the screen, and then at what appeared to be the keyboard. However, neither of us really had no idea what to do. Even the librarian's directions were kind of…vague to us as we had no prior experience to this… "computer".

"So… I just push the letters here…" She pointed towards the keyboard, later banging on it. "…and then the words and moving pictures will come up _here_?" She picked up the object with the screen.

It took a longer moment for the librarian to turn around. I believe I heard her sigh before she turned back to us.

"That's right." She walked over to Twilight and placed the screen back down.

Twilight pressed a single button, and we received a beep as a result. "Maybe this place _does_ have magic."

Behind us, I could hear the librarian walk away with her stack of books.

"Well, let's see what we can come up with." I announced as we stared at the screen.

However, a sudden blast of music interrupted us and caught our attention. The librarian came back and slapped a hand to her forehead. To the other side, we saw the three girls that looked like Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo back home. They were bouncing up and down in tune with the music. But something about the song was ODDLY familiar.

The librarian shut the sound off. "Uh, girls, what are you doing?"

As Twilight continued messing with the computer, I continued observing the scene.

"We're just seeing how many hits our new music video has gotten." The girl I assumed to be Sweetie Belle responded with.

Applebloom turned on the music, to which they began bouncing in rhythm to again.

"'So the three of us will fight the fight...!'" The lyrics sounded out, bringing the memory back into my mind.

That's their theme song!

The librarian placed her hands to her ears. "No, just..." She took the speaker off, having them be unallowed to listen any further. "No! The school computers are for research purposes only." She walked away, holding the speaker.

"It's just as well, y'all," Applebloom spoke to the rest of her friends. "…some of the comments about our song were really awful: 'Epic Fail,' 'Funniest thing I've ever seen!'"

" 'I hear chicken in this…'" Scootaloo pointed out in the screen. "What does that even mean?!"

"Funniest thing they've ever seen, huh?" Sweetie Belle brought back, causing them to brighten up with an idea.

"Uh, I don't know that _that's_ what you should take from..." Twilight tried to tell them, but they ran off. She faced the computer and moved closer, messing with the screen. She began pounding the keyboard with whole fists, rather those flexible attachments individually.

"Uh… Twilight. I think you're supposed to use these?" I presented, wiggling them. They're the only ones small enough that actually fit each key…"

"Oh…Um…" She stared at the screen blankly for a moment. "You know what?" She pushed herself away. "I think it'd be easier if we hit the books instead… At least that's something I _know_ how to use."

I shrugged as she grabbed her backpack and stood up. Then, we decided to look around the shelves. Twilight was picking out every single book that could help us with our position. But she was taking out too many, and as she carried them all, she was having a really tough time doing so. I wanted to help, but the books were wobbling from the long tower and soon caused her to fall, bringing down all the books.

"Shhh!" The librarian shushed, despite the book-covered Twilight on the floor.

I held out my hand towards Twilight. "Maybe you should carry a few at a time?" I suggested.

She grabbed my hand, allowing me to pull her up. She wiped off her skirt and chuckled a little nervously. "Sorry… It's just that… I'm used to my magic back home… I could carry as much as I wanted."

"Well…we should really pick these up…" Spike walked out from her backpack and looked around. He choose one book to grab ahold with his teeth and lift.

Twilight noticed him and crouched down to pick one with her mouth as well. Spike noticed her error and pointed out the book Twilight held with his paw. He then pointed towards her hands, reminding her how she had to use her hands instead.

"Ugh." She released the book and then grabbed it with her hands. "Sorry…keep forgetting…" She continued to grab the rest of her books using them. I kneeled on the floor and helped her with them as well. When we placed all the books on a nearby table, Twilight seemed to be attracted to another new foreign machine. She touched the top part and lifted it as if it was some kind of lid. "What's this…?" She asked as we both noticed another glassy surface inside. Twilight studied it for a moment, looking around, until she placed her hands on the machine to have a closer look. However, the machine sent out a blinding bright light, startling Twilight greatly to where she was pushed against me and having me being thrown to the floor along with her. "Sorry, Alex…"

"It's fine." I brought her with me as I stood up. "You okay?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded.

"Well, I suppose that's enough exploring, huh?"

"Heh…yeah…" She rubbed her head.

Twilight and I walked back to the table to attempt to learn more about our new environment through books. Unfortunately, it was going to be a boring process...well…not for Twilight…

* * *

After I don't know how long of holding my hand against my cheek in fatigue, an announcement jolted me slightly alert.

"The library will be closing in five minutes."

Twilight rested her cheek with her hand as well. She closed the book and yawned.

"Wow…that was a good read!" She faced me. "So these…" She pointed to the flexible structures on her hand. "…are apparently fingers." She pointed to where her forelegs would be. "Our arms. And instead of our back hooves…" She faced and motioned her legs. "We have feet!" She then turned her attention towards her chest. "And weirdly, I—" Suddenly, she cut herself off in mid-sentence, gasping. "Ah! I hadn't even thought about where we're going to sleep tonight!"

"Way ahead of you." Spike announced near us by some stairs.

"Spike?" I inquired. "Where were you?"

"I got kind of bored, so I did a little of my own exploration upstairs! Come on, I wanna show you something!"

Twilight and I exchanged a look with each other. Nevertheless, we stood up and followed Spike up the stairs. He led us to a corner of the upper portion of the library, stopping near something that was covered. He smiled and began to pull the cover off with his paw. "It's a little…" He coughed due to the dust. "…dusty. But it doesn't seem like anybody comes up here."

Spike had revealed to us that he had actually made a bed out of books. Twilight and I walked towards to it and sat down.

"It's perfect, Spike." She shared with a warm smile.

Twilight rewarded him with a head and belly scratch. "So, how did your research go?" He asked.

"Well, I found a lot cool things about our new bodies!" She answered. "But I also found this book!" She presented a blue book in front of her. "It's called a yearbook. It seems to be something they used to keep a record of things that have happened at the school." She opened the book and towards a specific page. "Look." She pointed towards a picture…a picture that held each of the new girls in this world. "That's Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and I'm gonna bet the girl on the far right is Rarity."

Spike's eyes widened and took the book to his side. "There's a Rarity here?" He wagged his tail happily, but then looked back in embarrassment. "I mean, uh... interesting photo!" He returned the book.

"It's interesting because they look like they're friends…" Twilight added more softly.

"They _do_ look like our friends. But I thought we figured that out already." Spike responded.

"No, I mean... they look like they're friends with each other. But it doesn't seem like they're friends now…" Twilight mentioned, resting her head on her hand sadly.

Thinking back on it, with their arguments toward one another, I had to agree. "You're right…"

"Not so much." Spike included.

Twilight allowed herself to fall back, using an open book as a pillow. "I just can't help but get the feeling that Sunset Shimmer had something to do with it."

"I wouldn't put it past her." Spike shared. "But she wanted your crown 'cause she's planning on doing something even worse! If you're gonna stop her, you gotta focus on _making_ friends here. Can't worry about why _these_ girls aren't friends anymore." He circled around and rested himself by Twilight and me. "Even if they _do_ remind you of your Ponyville friends." He finished sleepily.

"You're right, Spike." Twilight placed her left arm around him, sighing both contently and sleepily. "Eye on the prize." I stood up from my seated position and looked around. "Where are you going?" Twilight asked, looking up towards me.

"Trying to find someplace to sleep…" I tapped my finger on my chin.

"You know… There's a perfectly comfortable bed right here." Twilight pointed out, almost as if I had never even noticed it before.

I turned around to face her and chuckled a little. "I can't say the same about comfort but…it doesn't look like there's a lot of space."

"Don't be ridiculous." Twilight reacted and faced Spike. "Spike, do you mind moving to the top here instead?" She patted the stack of books behind her.

"I guess not…" Spike tiredly lifted himself and placed himself on the spot.

I smiled lightly and sat down as Twilight scooted to the right to make some room. "Thanks, Spike."

"Sure wish I had a pillow though…"

His comment made me wonder.

"Hm…" I took off my backpack and placed it in front of me. I opened the main compartment and immediately noticed several pillows stuffed inside. Coincidence, but who's complaining when it's perfect for such an occasion? My mother is the Princess of the night after all… "Here." I pulled one out and gave it to Spike.

Spike opened his eyes and quickly grabbed it when he realized what it was. "Cool! How'd you get this?!"

"My mom had placed it in my bag." I answered and gave one to Twilight, who replaced it with the book she had under her head. I pulled one out for myself and placed it where I would sleep.

"Wow. Princess Luna must be really amazing." He mentioned, placing the pillow below him and resting on it.

As he said that, I noticed one last thing tucked in my backpack. A lunar hoof-stitched blanket. I smiled at this sight. "Yeah…she really is…" I pulled it out and unrolled it. It seemed big enough for Twilight and I to share.

"Heh, wow." Twilight spoke, noticing the blanket as well. "Seems like your mom really prepared for your sleep."

"Hm…" I began to think once again. "I wonder if she could come into my dream…even in this world…"

Nonetheless, I spread the blanket out for Twilight and me. As soon as we were much more comfortable than before, we began our rest.

"Goodnight, Alex." Twilight expressed as she comfortably tucked herself with the blanket.

I gazed at the moon, thinking of my mother and feeling some sort of connection with her, even though she was technically far away.

"Goodnight, Twi…"


	2. Day 2

**Bronyruff Brandon: Eh...I don't think I'm _that_ great.**

**Triple fire Phoenix: Heh...thanks...I guess.**

**Fleetlord Avatar: Yep.**

**Brony Dragon: yay.  
**

**ReesesPieces247: Uh...kind of...but I'm not so sure if it's accurate.**

**ctran03931: There's much more than the eye sees.**

**Wow(Unique name by the way): Boy, have I been waiting to answer this one for a while now. Ahem. Get out, seriously. If you paid any attention to the movie, unlike you did for this story, you'd know that Celestia never said that only ONE pony can go through. She only stated that the girls could not join because it would bring unbalance to the other world. Get your facts straight otherwise you're only going to make yourself look like an idiot. Oooh. And Alex is a Gary Stu too? Yeah, okay, why don't I just have him beat every single villian with one single punch and have him save the day with no effort by his laser beam eyes. Yeah, he has nothing to worry about at all. Uh-huh. If you have the nerve to say that he's an Alicorn for no reason, but then include that he's Luna's son as well, just stop talking, because I have a feeling you're about to go, what they call, "full-retard" on me. I don't even know why you've read so far into this story if you don't even like it. I'm not forcing you to read this. If you didn't like it, then you shouldn't have read it. You don't need to bring your unnecessary little comment if it's not going to do any good but make you look like an asshole. And "emo self-insert"? Really? You must have some personal problems. I mean, really, only those people that go out of their way to insult someone else when they really don't need to usually hate themselves. Using the word "emo", I can tell you have no consideration for others, nor care much to drive deeper beyond the words of the story rather than reading each word as if your mother is pointing at the book and forcing you to read. If you have nothing helpful to offer, please get out and have a nice day.**

**P.S. I don't really take hate from Anonymous seriously...**

**DeadSpace123: Thanks.**

**TwilitPonyWhiteAbyss: Ooh. Okay.**

**Matthais123: Hold on. Didn't you see the movie? It clearly shows Spike running after Twilight because he seemed to panic at the moment, and therefore entered inside. And about the guy...not in the same way.**

**Ecomonococo: Ooh.**

**MovieNerdKing: Enjoy.  
**

**GodOfWar: Lol.  
**

**ThatBronyGuy: Thanks.**

**charizardag: Ah...**

Day 2 – The Reunion

* * *

I was awoken by something creaky and distant. When I opened my eyes, I noticed my different surroundings, realizing that I almost forgot about what happened before. However, it wasn't morning…at least…not when the sun was already out. Twilight and Spike were still asleep. I was about to shrug off whatever I heard and close my eyes again until I heard a series of echoes from a voice.

"I seriously don't know why you have those two idiots helping you." The voice sounded like it came from downstairs, around the center of the library. "I never even wanted to come to the library at this time of night to get their stupid phones they lost!"

This was something I needed to investigate. I left Twilight and Spike to sleep while I quietly got out of bed and began walking towards the stairs.

"Geez… The library is so creepy…at this time of night…" She spoke.

I arrived at the railings and placed my hands on there, looking over for any sign of someone. I managed to see something bending over and moving.

"No, I didn't find them yet. Calm down. Why don't you come over here and look for them yourself instead?"

To try to get a better look, I began slowly sticking to the railing and moving to the right.

"Look, I know you're letting me stay at your place, but why have those two morons helping you? Yeah, they're easy to boss around, but guess what? They're idiots!"

There were some things being moved around and even tossed. I reached the point where I was at where the stairs began descending. It was a little too dark to see whoever it was clearly.

"Well…yeah…I know but…" The voice paused and her body was still for a moment. "Look…just…can you stop talking about him already? I'm upset enough as it is."

Curiously, to get a better look, I began stepping down the stairs.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, alright? Let me just find your stupid friends' phones and get out of here." She continued to search through bookshelves. "Yeah, whatever, see you later." Afterwards, there was a beep and her voice ceased.

As she continued to scavenge, I slowly began walking up towards her, still not knowing who exactly it was. The voice sounded familiar, but I wasn't absolutely sure.

"Finally…found them…" She whispered to herself and stood back up. As soon as she did, she began turning around to walk until she bumped into me and dropped the objects she was carrying. "Ugh! What the?" As she lifted her head to see who I was, I could identify her through the moonlight. To my surprise, it was Starlight.

She was quite surprised to find me standing in front of her as well. "Alex?!" She narrowed her revealed eye angrily. "What are you doing here?"

I crossed my arms and looked at her, forming an irritated frown. "I think the better question is what _you're_ doing here…"

"Ugh." She scoffed, bent down to pick up whatever she was searching for, and stood back up. "None of your business. Get out of my way." She moved to the side and shoved me away using her hand.

Before she could get far, I grabbed her arm firmly with my hand, stopping her in her tracks. She looked at her arm to notice my hand there and then switched to my eyes to send me a questionable, yet highly annoyed, expression. "No. I need answers. Now." I demanded boldly.

"What are you talking about? Let me go!"

"No!" I exclaimed in a hushed tone. "I want to end all this senseless fighting between us! Why do you hate me?"

"What?" She asked, not really trying to participate in the conversation, rather leave as soon as possible.

"You hate me, Starlight. There has to be reason. You've hated me ever since we were young. I've never done anything to you. All the other kids in Fillydelphia hated me, yes, but what I'm more focused on is you. All the other kids didn't matter as much you did. You were supposed to be my sister…a pony who really loved me despite anything else. But no, for as long as I could remember, you hated me, and not only that, you opted to make my life as miserable as you could. Why?" Starlight merely tilted her head and looked towards the floor. I continued staring at her in silence until I decided to bring up approaching questions. "…were you bullied too, Starlight…? Did you need to take out your anger on me because you couldn't take it out anypony else?"

Her eyes dashed towards me as her eyebrows furrowed angrily. "Ugh! No!" She ripped her arm from my hand. She wanted to leave, but something was keeping her in the same place.

"…are you alone…?" I asked as well, beginning to hold a hand out towards her.

She didn't answer. She shifted her eyes towards the other way, not wanting to look at me.

After another moment of silence, I formed a crazy idea…but after all…friendship could really change anything significantly…

At that moment, although I never believed I would actually do such a thing to Starlight, I wrapped my arms around her, embracing her sympathetically in hopes to have her open up and maybe even turn our relationship completely around. I heard her gasp lightly, but she didn't return anything. She was still for a few seconds, only returning silence. Nevertheless, after those few seconds, she immediately pushed me off with her hands forcefully. "Nice try! You know how pathetic it is trying to get me to help you get your 'precious little crown' back?!" She then raised an angry shaking finger towards me. "Don't you dare ever lay your hands on me or even think about doing something like that again!" Afterwards, she immediately turned around and began storming off.

Before I could try bringing up something to say or do, she had already angrily pushed the doors open and left as the doors retracted back to their closed position.

Seriously…what is up with her…?

I sighed and realized all I could do was just return back upstairs and go back to sleep.

Softly lying myself on the makeshift bed of books, I covered myself and continued to think as I closed my eyes.

Whatever…I can't let myself be distracted by her selfish and childish antics…no matter how much I want to know the reason why she's treated me like trash my whole life…

* * *

"Good morning, students, and happy Thursday." A voice announced and echoed throughout the entire library, waking me up. "Just a reminder to pick up your ballots for the Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal today. They are due at the time the dance starts tomorrow night, so don't forget to turn them in and make your voice heard."

I groaned and began sitting up until I felt some light weight. It was around my shoulder area. I turned my attention towards the source and actually noticed Twilight's head resting on me. She began motioning her body as if she was waking up as well. Once she opened her eyes, she noticed me and smiled. "Morning, Alex." However, she noticed how close she was and widened her eyes, instantly backing away to the library shelf on her side. Her sudden jerky movement caused Spike's resting spot to collapse, sending him roughly on the floor along with the pillow. "Sorry!" She apologized, her blush revealing within her cheeks. "I didn't mean to…"

I could only smile warmly in response. I stood up and held a hand out towards her. "It's fine."

She lightly grabbed my hand and allowed me to pull her up. Once she was up, she looked down at her skirt and lightly brushed it, looking around afterwards to notice it was morning.

"Ugh…is it time to get up already…?" Spike groaned from under an open book.

I crouched down and removed the book on him. I picked him up and looked at him for a while, sitting down on the bed. "Yep. It's a new day. The day where we pretty much have to win everyone's vote…"

He yawned, waving a paw in front of his mouth. "I guess…" I placed him back on the ground, allowing him to stretch out his legs and such.

Twilight sat down by my side and observed me as I began folding the blanket and placing it, along with the pillows, back inside my backpack. "You really think we can do all that today?"

"Well…" I paused for a moment, thinking a little. "I've been thinking…somewhat… Sunset Shimmer is the one who supposedly runs this school, right?" I asked her. She nodded her head. "She shows everyone here how aggressively cruel she behaves, so…I'm sure…if we can show everyone how actually _nice_ we really are, I'm _sure_ they'll vote for us instead. But we have to find out how to show all of them all at the same time, because we don't have the time to do it one by one."

"You're right…" Twilight answered. "Maybe our friends…in this world…can help us."

"Well…" I finished packing up my mother's gifts. "Let's see where our friendship takes us then." I threw the backpack around my shoulder.

Twilight began pulling out something within her backpack as Spike grabbed the white large cover nearby to pull over the bed.

"When we were studying yesterday, I managed to write an outline of what could help us start." She stood up, holding a stack of papers on her right hand. Spike threw the cover over the bed and began following us as we walked down the stairs of the library and towards the center. "Fluttershy said we'd need to win over all those different groups if we want to become Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal. So I've compiled a list of talking points."

Spike laughed behind us, catching Twilight's attention. "You made a list?" He teased, causing her to stop and sigh. "That's so unlike you!" He mentioned sarcastically. Twilight immediately turned around and faced him, bending her legs and sending a fierce look. Without saying a word, she pulled out her open backpack in front of Spike and pointed an angry finger towards it.

I sucked in some air through my teeth to represent Spike's status. "You're in the dog house now, Spike…"

He returned a nervous laugh and slowly entered the bag. "Please. Continue."

Twilight removed her irritated mood and continued on with her plan. "We'll start introducing ourselves. I'll sprinkle in some things I learned about their world into the conversation; show them how we fit in here!" We walked towards the doors. Twilight stopped and stared at them for a moment.

"Are you alright?" I asked, looking at her concerningly.

She closed her eyes, hovered a hand over her chest, inhaled a breath, and blew it out slowly and calmly. "Yeah." She nodded. "Time to make a good first impression on our fellow students." She placed her hands on the handles and pushed the doors open. Beyond were many of the students, who inhabited the hallways, standing by open lockers and talking. "The whole world sort of depends on it…"

"Just do your best." Spike offered.

Twilight released another sigh, and then grinned brightly. She grabbed my hand and held it a little nervously, leading me through the hallway by her side.

However, as soon as we were spotted walking through, the hallway suddenly grew less noisy and every student seemed to stare at us. I could hear one of them whisper.

"Hey, look." He notified another of our appearance.

All of them quietly, but impolitely, began laughing.

I formed worried eyes as I noticed each of them performing the same action. Based on this familiar scene, I knew we were already up to a bad start. "That can't be good…" I spoke softly.

Twilight switched her attention to each side of the hallway, wondering greatly and worried what all the commotion was about. "Why is everybody looking at us funny?" She asked me. Although, she was suddenly forced towards the inside of a classroom nearby, taking me along with her. "Whoa!" We stopped ourselves near the desk. "What're you...?" Twilight and I looked for the one responsible. "Why did you...?" The person slammed the door immediately and placed herself on it, turning around to face us. When we were allowed to view her, we were able to instantly recognize another one of our friends back home. "Rarity?" Twilight questioned.

She rather rushed towards Twilight with a measuring ruler and analyzed every part of her quickly. She continued observing Twilight for a moment, placing a finger to her chin and then pointed it upwards excitedly. She bent over to search through her bag, throwing out various pieces of clothing until she grabbed a certain one.

"Perfect!" Rarity returned to Twilight and immediately placed on a whole new outfit on her. "Oh, yes. This is _good_!" She walked around her, analyzing her. "No one will recognize you!"

"Why wouldn't I want to be...?" Twilight tried to ask until Rarity spotted me and sent me questionable, yet familiar eyes to me.

"Oh my…" Rarity expressed, inching closer towards me. "So this was the handsome young gentleman that was with you in the video?"

"…video?" I tried to inquire about, but Rarity seemed to care more about gazing at me.

"Why…you're so much more smashing in person…" Rarity continued to walk towards me, having me back towards a desk. Once I couldn't move back any further, I placed my hands on the desk to support me. Rarity inched closer to me and placed her hands on mine to move them off the desk and to in front of her. "Sadly…we'll have to find you something else to wear as well…" She spoke almost in a whisper, her face only a few inches away from mine. She sucked and bit her bottom lip as she lowered her eyelids halfway.

"Uh…" Twilight tried to speak, not knowing what to make of the situation.

Rarity suddenly shook her head and seemed to snap out of her daze. She looked down to notice her hands holding mine and released them. "I-I mean…" She turned around. "I'll need to make a disguise for each one of you, including your dog." As soon as Rarity focused her attention towards Spike, he released a love-struck tongue. "It really is too bad." She poked him on the nose and caressed his cheeks, causing Spike to become brain-dead and under Rarity's spell. "He really is _so adorable_!" She tickled him. Spike enjoyed it so much that even when Rarity removed her hands, he continued to hang over Twilight's backpack, wagging his tail happily and waiting for more attention. "You know, with a little work, I think I could make it look like a rabbit, instead."

Spike fell over and landed on the floor, looking at Rarity questionably.

"Huh? A rabbit?" Twilight asked.

I retrieved Spike from the floor and held him in my hands as the door in the class opened.

"There you are, you two!" Applejack revealed herself, spotting us.

"So much for the disguise." Rarity crossed her arms and looked away irritably.

"I've been lookin' all over for ya!" She walked in towards us.

Fluttershy poked her head in curiously and cautiously, surprising me. "Me too."

"Me three!" Pinkie dropped by from the top of the door. She rushed over to Twilight and observed her from top to bottom, which Rarity seemed to intentionally ignore as she closed her eyes and turned her body away. "I like your new look!"

"I do have an eye for these sorts of things." Rarity turned to Pinkie, but keeping her eyes closed. "Not that you seem to care."

"WHAT?!" Pinkie asked, deeply surprised and removing her signature smile off her face.

"Why do you think she doesn't care?" Twilight asked. This led to Pinkie straining her shut eyes and biting her lower lip in extreme anger. Applejack shook her head and waved her hands across her neck. Fluttershy could only pull back and hold both her hands to her mouth. "No, never mind." Twilight retreated, seeing the discussion begin to heat up. "Why were you all looking for us?" She asked, pulling the wig off of her head. "What's going on?"

"Oh…" Fluttershy released worriedly. "They haven't seen it yet."

"Seen what?"

Pinkie sat Twilight down in one of the desks and placed a computer in front of her as I moved by her side with the others gathering around us. I noticed Fluttershy by me as I lowered myself, and I really couldn't help but begin to feel nervous at the sight of her. Many emotions swelled up inside of me at the sight of her. It was like having a huge crush on someone you didn't know…only I really _did_ know her but…it wasn't the same the other way around. "Oh, it's really not that bad." Pinkie chuckled nervously as she pressed a button, revealing what she wanted to show us.

"Twilight Sparkle wants to be _your_ Fall Formal Princess." A familiar voice sounded from the video that began to play. The first clip was when we were in the library. Twilight was messing with the computer and trying to figure it out. Whoever made this video clearly messed with the scene she got in order to have Twilight appear as if she was completely incapable of doing the simplest task, which was obviously not true. "What does it say about our school if we give someone like _this_..." The next clip presented Twilight when she was trying to pick up the books she had dropped. In the video, she had picked one of them up with her mouth only just as the previous clip, altered to make her look like a moron. "…such an important honor?" The next one was when she was startled by the machine that sent out that big flash.

I pulled back and covered my eyes with my hand, being unable to watch that junk any further.

Twilight gasped in shock. "Wha... I?" She placed her hands on the top of the lid for the computer and closed it shut.

"I take that back. It's pretty bad!" Pinkie recalled.

"But this all happened yesterday!" Twilight looked back towards us. "At the library!" She lowered her head a bit in anticipation for a shocking truth. "…Has everyone in the school seen this?" She lowered herself fearfully in her chair. "Is that why they were all looking at us that way?"

"Mmm..." They answered, looking around and not directly at Twilight, but sending a pretty clear answer.

"What am I gonna do?" Twilight asked worriedly. "No one is gonna vote for me after seeing _this_! Probably not even Alex because he was with me!"

"Not that it'll make any difference…" Fluttershy spoke. "…but I'll still vote for you two." Twilight planted her face on her desk hopelessly. "Both of you were so nice to stand up for me when Sunset Shimmer was picking on me yesterday."

"If you still wanna run, maybe there's something _I_ can do to help!" Pinkie exclaimed out.

"Word of advice: Don't accept _her_ help. She doesn't take anything seriously!" Fluttershy whispered between us.

"Huh?" I asked, forming a confused expression.

"Ugh! Why do you have to be so awful to me?" Pinkie demanded, stomping her foot down on the ground.

"Fluttershy? Awful?" I questioned again, unable to believe Fluttershy being so.

"Oh! Pff. Kch. Ts! Don't play innocent, Pinkie Pie!" Rarity intervened angrily. "You are no better than _she_ is!"

"And WHAT is _that_ supposed to mean?" Pinkie grabbed Rarity's arms screaming into her face.

"_I_ am happy to offer up my assistance as well." Rarity responded calmly, and then quickly switched to an angry state. "To someone who would APPRECIATE what I have to offer!"

The three of them began fighting; arguing loudly and causing Spike to retreat back in Twilight's backpack and zip it up. I had no idea why they were fighting, and if it was even a legit reason to fight in the first place!

"Hey, hey ,hey!" I exclaimed, placing my hands on them. "Stop fighting! You girls shouldn't be fighting at all! What exactly has gotten in between you all to argue with each other in the first place?"

"They just don't know how to tie loose, get over it, and move on." Applejack answered, who was sitting on the large desk in the front of the room. She held up an apple core and released it in the trash.

"You mean like how _you've_ gotten over what happened with Rainbow Dash?" Rarity pointed out.

"She said she'd get the softball team to make an appearance at my bake sale." Applejack reacted. "I tell everybody they're comin', and then not one of them shows up! She made a liar outta me! That's different!"

"Is not!" Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy responded aggressively.

"Is too!" Applejack returned.

This initiated the four of them to bicker, argue, and fight even louder and more aggressively. I felt my head start to pound as I was in the middle of the entire argument.

"Enough!" I shouted, ceasing their voices once more. "I don't care what happened! Arguing doesn't solve anything! You only make it worse!"

There was a moment of silence before Rarity spoke up. "He's right, you know? He said so. You three just don't shut your dirty little—"

I placed a finger on her lips to get her to stop talking.

"It goes for all of you."

Rarity sighed sadly and dramatically motioned herself over to me. "I'm so _terribly_ sorry. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me…?" She looked into my eyes, blinking her teary ones.

"You should stop flirting with him, Rarity." Fluttershy advised furiously. "He already has a girlfriend…" She then retracted her feelings a little more and grew quieter. "…if you don't already know…"

"Oh, I can see it's obviously not you?" Rarity returned coldly.

Fluttershy quietly gasped and turned her face away from Rarity's.

"Hey!" Applejack spoke up. "Don't you talk to Fluttershy like that!"

"Fluttershy is a big meanie pants!" Pinkie exclaimed out loud. "She only pretends to be hurt because she just wants attention!"

"Why you—"

"STOP! All of you!" Twilight intervened loudly. "I can't believe it! You all just completely ignore what Alex just said and keep at it! It's ridiculous!" Twilight sighed. She reached her hand towards her bag. "I wanna show you something." Spike heard this and slipped out the book through the bag with his paw without taking out his whole body. "You were friends once." She reached the page she had marked that contained their picture.

"Hmm. The Freshman Fair." Applejack mentioned, seeming to be cleared of the anger inside her. "Y'all remember?"

The others agreed, nodding their heads as if their anger was stripped away from them as well.

"But something happened." Twilight closed the book, wondering. "I think that something was Sunset Shimmer."

"Well, it's a nice theory, darling, but Sunset Shimmer had nothing to do with it." Rarity responded.

"She's right!" Fluttershy answered, beginning to silently raise her anger once again. "Sunset Shimmer isn't the one who ruined my silent auction for the animal shelter by bringing fireworks and noisemakers! It was supposed to be a serious event, but Pinkie Pie ruined it!" She crossed her arms and looked away in an irritated manner.

"What are you talking about?" Pinkie quickly questioned loudly. "I got a text from you saying that you didn't want a silent auction, you wanted a big party!" She pointed out.

"Uh! I never sent you a text!" Fluttershy returned, now shocked.

"You didn't?" Pinkie asked and reverted to her evidence.

"You don't think she's the one who's been sending me those e-mails, do you?" Rarity thought, claiming back on her own issue. "Every time I volunteer to help with the decorations at a school function, I get an e-mail from Pinkie Pie saying she has plenty of volunteers! And _then_ I find out she's done everything herself."

"I never sent you any e-mails!" Pinkie answered.

"Maybe _she's_ the reason Rainbow Dash didn't show up for my bake sale!" Applejack offered.

"Didn't you ever ask Rainbow Dash why she didn't show up?" Twilight inquired.

"Heh, I guess I kinda stopped talking to her at all after that." Applejack removed her hat and held onto it a bit shamefully.

"Maybe now would be a good time to start." Twilight suggested, placing her hat back on her own head.

"I second that." I included. "Do you have any idea where she would be right now?" I asked.

"She's usually out in the soccer field during this time practicing…" Applejack rubbed her arm a little nervously. "I guess we should go see what's up then…?"

I walked up to Applejack and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Of course."I patted her lightly. "Come on, everything will be a lot a better once you two make up."

"Gee, I sure hope so." She returned and began walking out the classroom to lead us out.

* * *

On the way, the rest of the girls began to make up for their own share of problems.

"I hope you girls can forgive me for being a big meanie mean pants…" Pinkie apologized towards Rarity and Fluttershy. "I didn't really mean what I said earlier…" She paused and thought back. "Well… I did…but I didn't know you girls were actually innocent of everything!"

"It's perfectly fine." Rarity returned. "I, for the same reason, am very sorry to both of you." She faced Fluttershy. "Excuse my comment earlier about the…you know…"

"…it's…it's fine…" Fluttershy answered, lowering her head. Another strand of her hair fell to her face, but she moved it out of the way as well.

As I noticed her do that, I wanted to comfort her so much, whether she was sad or not…but I didn't want her to freak out or…I don't know…not like me because of what I'd do…

"So…ahem…" Rarity reached up to the side of me. "…do you…do you really have a girlfriend?"

Just like Rarity back home…she has a crush on me here too…

"Y-yeah…" I answered, glancing towards Twilight. "It's Twilight… That's why we're running for Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal…"

"O-oh, yes… Of, of course…" Rarity looked away, seeming to be embarrassed after what she had done.

We eventually reached the field outside of the school. I saw Rainbow Dash with a line of soccer balls horizontally in front of her. She aimed and kicked them one by one in the net. She didn't notice us coming by. We stopped by the stands as Applejack prepared to confront Rainbow Dash.

"Well…here I go." Applejack expressed.

"Don't worry." Twilight encouraged. "Everything will be fine."

Applejack nodded and then faced Rainbow Dash's direction. Then, she began walking towards her.

We all took a seat on the stands and began to watch their confrontation. I most intentionally sat between Twilight and Fluttershy. It felt like I haven't shared any love with Fluttershy so long, and it felt weird that I wasn't doing it right now since she was technically right next to me… I need to stop thinking about this…

"They're actually talking! That's a good sign!" Rarity exclaimed once Applejack received Rainbow's attention behind her.

Their conversation was inaudible, and I somehow felt like there was a chance something might go wrong. Fortunately, I was the one who was actually wrong. After a few silent moments, they ended up hugging, leading Pinkie to cheer.

"Hugs! Ooh, hugs are always good!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash both began walking our way, Rainbow still holding her ball tucked under her arm. "_Somebody_, and I think we can all guess who, told Rainbow Dash that my bake sale had been moved to a different day." Applejack explained to us when she reached where we were. "Dash showed up with all the softball team and thought _I'd_ cancelled on _her_!"

"So you two are the ones looking to dethrone Sunset Shimmer and become Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal, huh?" She asked, directing to Twilight and me. Twilight looked away for a moment, and then returned her sight towards Rainbow Dash and nodded hesitantly. "Gotta say," Rainbow bounced the ball on her knees. "I'd _really_ love to see that happen. I'll totally help you out!" She allowed the ball to fall to the floor to place her foot on it. "But…one of you needs to beat me in a game of one-on-one."

"What?" Twilight asked, her face filling with fear and despair.

"Hang on, Rainbow Dash." I caught her attention as I stood up to confront her. "You're captain of the soccer ball team, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So, instead of facing one-on-one like any other player, how about you take us, Twilight and me, two-on-one?" Knowing how Rainbow Dash is, I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes competitively. "Unless you think you can't take us."

"Hah." Rainbow slightly laughed. "You've got guts. I like that." She began lightly messing around with her ball again. "Okay, have it your way then. But just so you know, just because it's two-on-one, doesn't mean it'll be easy."

"Twilight and I are a team." I lowered myself and grabbed Twilight's hand, pulling her up. "A great one for that matter. Whatever obstacles we've faced in the past, we've overcame them together. We should at least have a chance in this one."

Rainbow chuckled. "Whatever you say. Doesn't matter to me. You're facing the all mighty Rainbow Dash!" She motioned the ball towards the top of her foot and kicked it to the top of her head. "You better keep a close eye on me. First to five goals wins." She lowered herself and quickly stretched out her leg in front of her, kicking the ball that was formerly above her head. The ball dashed with a significant speed towards one of the nets, stopping when touched. "One-zip!" I widened my eyes, exchanging a look with Twilight and noticing she returned the same expression. "What are you two waiting for?! Get in the field before I get four more goals in ten seconds flat!"

I led Twilight towards the field, making sure Rainbow wouldn't be good on her word. We stood near the goal as Rainbow waited for us in the middle of the field.

"Um…I don't know about you, Alex…but…I'm a horrible soccer player…" She worriedly told me, sharing a glance to Rainbow every now and then.

"Hey…" I received her attention. "We've been through worse scenarios before. I think we can handle a little soccer…"

"But how!?" She exclaimed. "Rainbow is the captain of every sport! How do you expect to win against her?! She already has one goal on us!"

"This is the way I think of it." I returned. "If you know the sport inside-out, have incredible abilities like Rainbow Dash, sure, you'll have a major advantage to an average player. But I believe having brains is what really matters. We don't have to have great skills to beat Rainbow, we just have to outsmart her, use what weaknesses we already know of back home."

"You're right…!" Twilight widened her eyes in realization. "Use her pride against her!"

"Hey!" Rainbow called from the middle of the field. "You two gonna start yet?! We don't have all day!"

Despite her announcement, I faced back to Twilight. "We can do this." I acknowledged, holding the both of her hands confidently.

She returned a self-assured expression and nod.

I turned over to the ball lying on the grass near us and picked it up. I turned to face Rainbow, who continued to surprisingly wait with her arms crossed. "Kick it!" She yelled.

"Wait here and protect the goal." I advised. "I'm going to see what she has to offer."

Twilight nodded, allowing me to drop the ball and give it an average kick. As it flew over to Rainbow Dash, I ran over to her direction. Without taking her eyes off me, she placed her foot on the ball and narrowed her eyes competitively towards me. She waited until I was face-to-face with her. "Let's see what you got." She commented.

She lifted her foot as if she was about to kick it, causing me to quickly shift into a defensive stance to prepare to block it, but instead, she moved it backwards. This confused and dazed me for a second, which was all she needed to use the side of her foot to strafe the ball to the left and move on past me. But the time I realized, she was already halfway between Twilight and me.

Twilight, having no support, began shaking in fear once realizing how easily Rainbow fooled me. Seeing her swiftly, powerfully, and expertly handle the ball, she noticed Rainbow lift it up into the air and kick it. The ball was flying straight towards her. Twilight panicked and ducked, holding her hands to her head. Rainbow scored. As Rainbow walked into the goal to retrieve the ball, Pinkie on the stands placed the number two card on Rainbow Dash's score, with ours still being zero. Rainbow walked in front of Twilight, holding the ball in her hand. She dropped it in front of Twilight, allowing her a chance to kick it. Seeing this opportunity, Twilight grinned joyfully and lifted it up her leg to kick.

However, Rainbow cunningly dragged it back behind her body and used only her right leg to lift it up and kick towards the goal over her head. Rainbow cheered once again as Pinkie placed the number three on her score. I crossed my arms and returned an irritated expression after seeing Rainbow toy with Twilight like that.

Rainbow merely shrugged towards Twilight and walked away towards my direction as I ran over to Twilight.

"I can't believe she did that to me…" Twilight recalled to me, sending an almost defeated look.

"Alright, how about I stay here and you go run with the ball?" I offered.

Twilight rubbed her arm nervously. "Okay…" She retrieved the ball using her foot and looked towards Rainbow's direction. She was waiting for her, seeming to intimidate Twilight. Twilight gulped and took in a short breath before she began making her way towards Rainbow's goal. Despite our losing streak, the girls in the stands cheered for us nevertheless. Twilight kept a focused concentration on the ball, not noticing Rainbow slowly back away towards her blind spot. Twilight looked up to notice the goal free of anyone, appearing to feeling like she slipped past Rainbow somehow. Quickly hurrying to the goal, Rainbow slipped by and snatched the ball from Twilight, removing her sense of hope.

By the time Twilight looked back, Rainbow was already three-fourths towards my way. I slightly spread my body out with some light aggressiveness, just waiting for Rainbow to kick, which actually made my heart beat faster with anxiousness. She smirked and kicked the ball. The ball was thrown at a high height. When it was near me, I tried jumping to block her goal, but _somehow_ I only felt it at my fingertips, and it ended up going in anyway.

Rainbow cheered once again as Twilight lowered head and shoulders in lack of accomplishment. Pinkie, with an odd look in her face towards us, placed the four score card of Rainbow's side.

Twilight and Rainbow passed each other when Twilight was headed my way.

"Okay. That's it. Game over." Twilight waved her hands, giving up. "Rainbow already has us at four to nothing in a matter a minutes! If we're super lucky, we'll get one at most before she wins!"

"Okay…" I placed my hands on my hips. "Normally, I'd agree with you. But come on. I know I've said this already, but we're a team. We CAN do this. We just got off at a bad start…" I switched my attention towards Rainbow and tapped my chin. "We just need to have her lose her concentration…get her mad even…"

"And how exactly do we do that…?"

I rubbed my chin as I continued observing Rainbow.

"Come with me. I have an idea." I released, bringing the ball with me by my foot.

"But…what about the goal?" Twilight asked.

"Just come."

No matter the odd circumstances, Twilight began walking behind me. "When I reach Rainbow, walk over to the spot behind her. When you see the ball passed your way, run and hurry to the goal. Then you kick."

"But…what if Rainbow just…?"

"Just remember this. I'll take care of the rest."

Rainbow looked at us, unaware of the plan I had beneath. "Geez, you guys are really slow. I know you're about to lose, but c'mon…"

I lightly gestured with my head, indicating Twilight to do as I said.

"Sorry, Rainbow. Let's get this over and done with." I placed the ball in front of me. "By the way…have you ever considered running for Princess of the Fall Formal?" I asked, removing my sight on the ball and towards Rainbow's eyes.

"Na." She shook her head. "Not interested. Sports are more fun than some fake title at a dance."

"So you think you'd actually have a shot at it?"

She removed the grin on her face and replaced it with an angry frown. "What are you saying? That if I ran for Princess of the Fall Formal, I wouldn't have a chance?"

"Well, I mean…you could probably get all your teammates to vote for you, but I'm not sure if most of the school would want a person who's only known for her athletic skills…"

"Hey!" Rainbow seemed to have lost her concentration on the game and stepped closer towards me. "Just because I'm the MVP in being an athlete, doesn't mean I don't have what it takes to be Princess of the Fall Formal!" She tapped a finger on my chest. Her legs were open just enough to slip the ball through.

Without making it obvious, I lightly kicked it between them, hoping Twilight would see it from the other side. "Well, why don't you run then?" I asked.

"First of all, you and Twilight are trying to get Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal, so I don't see why you'd want me to—" Her sentence was cut off by the sudden cheering from the stands. "Huh?" She questioned, looking back to see that Twilight had actually made a goal. "What the?"

Pinkie happily placed a one on our side of the score.

"Huh…Twilight was an awesome teammate in scoring for me…" I mentioned, attempting to not get Rainbow on our scent.

"So what?" Rainbow reacted. "It's just one score, big whoop."

"You're right…it won't matter…" I returned, appearing to be defeated, but hiding the hope of winning inside of me.

I regrouped with Twilight back at our side of the field. She slightly surprised me when she came running towards me joyfully. She threw her arms around me in a jubilant manner, lightly pushing me backwards with the force of her momentum.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" She exclaimed. "It felt so amazing actually scoring!"

"Yeah." I patted her softly, sharing a light grin. "We just need something different four more times. Something that won't obviously point out what we're doing."

"Hm…" Twilight rubbed her chin blithely. "After what I've learned about this world…I think I might have an idea…" She stopped and looked up towards me. "You sneak around her this time. I'll keep her busy."

I raised a hand to my forehead and saluted her. "Whatever you say."

"Hurry up, Ms. Hotshot!" Rainbow shouted out from the middle of the field once again, holding the ball under her arm. "I'll let you try and have a shot at that again!" Twilight and I casually walked towards Rainbow to meet up with her again. I held both of my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. I remained a little more out of sight while Twilight met face-to-face with Rainbow. Without removing her light glare at Twilight, Rainbow dropped the ball and tapped it over to Twilight's foot. Twilight looked down for a brief moment, sharing a small innocent smile, and looked back up. "Whenever you're ready…"

"Sure, lemme just…" Twilight raised her foot, as if she was about to kick the ball, but then she stopped for some reason. She lightly gasped and looked around cautiously, speaking softly enough for only Rainbow and I to hear. "Um…Rainbow…I think you tore a piece in your undergarments…" She pointed specifically at the area she wore her skirt with the skin-tight black short shorts underneath.

"Haha, very funny." Rainbow waved it off, clearly serious about the situation. "Hurry up."

"Rainbow…" Twilight added a convincing amount of seriousness to her face, looking around once again. "Your…um…" She coughed a bit. "…underwear is…" She cleared her throat. Rainbow only reacted with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. Twilight coughed again, slightly looking away in embarrassment. "…_rainbow_ underwear…"

At this point, Rainbow's face immediately flushed red with embarrassment, and she quickly drew her attention towards the lower part of her body below her waist, drastically scanning around her skirt. As she did this, Twilight quickly passed the ball on to me.

"Where?!" Rainbow exclaimed in a hushed tone as I brought the ball a certain distance behind her.

Seeing as there was no goalie, I aimed the ball for a moment and kicked it surely towards the inside of the goal. Of course, if Rainbow was actually standing guard by the goal, she could have so easily blocked it, and instead get a goal herself, but seeing she was busy, it was more as practicing any other shot.

Applause and cheers sounded from the stands, assuring Pinkie to place another score to ours.

"Sorry…" Twilight waved her hand in mistake. "I thought I had seen something…"

Rainbow looked around, completely surprised, and then turned to me. "Hey! Why do you keep scoring when I'm not paying attention?!"

I shrugged. "For your first score, we didn't even know we were playing yet, so I figured this was fair, especially to a team captain."

"Hmph." Rainbow crossed her arms and scrunched her nose in irritation. "Whatever…"

Twilight and I regrouped back at our side. This time I had brought the ball back along with me.

"Nice job, Twilight!" I congratulated. "I don't exactly see how that worked…but hey, it did. Now…" I looked back to see Rainbow looking at us, tapping her foot in impatience. It seemed we were on the right track to winning, as she was becoming more aggressive and irritated, which we could actually use to our advantage. I turned back to Twilight. "Alright, we have to keep up with the distractions, but we should move on to something sudden and unexpected, rather than sly and small-talk. If do the same thing anymore than we already have, she might see what we're doing and just finish us off already. But right now, she's just focused on getting her reputation back by humiliating us in the game like she was doing at the start."

"What exactly do we do then?" Twilight asked.

"Something you'd expect Rainbow to freak out with or be stunned long enough to make a goal." I answered. Hearing myself talk, I actually realized something that could definitely catch Rainbow unexpected. It was a little…perhaps…over the line, but I'm sure she wouldn't take it personally in the heat of the game. "Hm, and I think I just got something…" I smirked slyly, looking over at Rainbow with my eyes. "Just in case it doesn't work, do you have anything at the goal?"

"I can't say that I do…but I can try thinking of something…"

"Well, good enough I suppose… Let's get started before Rainbow blows a fuse." I turned around and brought the ball with me by my foot.

By the time I reached Rainbow, she lowered her body slightly aggressively. "No more distractions! Show me what you got!" She pulled through her clenched teeth.

"Okay!" I exclaimed gleefully.

Kicking the ball to begin moving it towards her goal, I quickly aimed my face towards her cheek. I placed a peck on it as I ran past her. As expected, she widened her eyes and her body froze for a few seconds, which was all I really needed. After making the goal, hearing the cheers from the girls, and seeing Pinkie place another score to us, I retrieved the ball within the net and began bringing it back to Rainbow.

She remained in the middle of the field, recovering from her moment of confusion and shook her head.

"What the heck, man?! What'd you do that for?!" She yelled out loud.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed back. "It's just that I'm so happy right now! I'm having a lot of fun!" I added in my emphasis by kicking the ball joyfully to her.

Rainbow, not seeming to care about the rolling ball, growled and steamed as she formed fists with her hands and clenched them tensely. The ball stopped in front of her. She stomped her foot and shouted. "Well, STOP it!" She kicked it fiercely; bringing the ball back to me and allowing me to block it and send it back to her goal for another score.

After seeing Pinkie place that last score which brought us to a tie, Rainbow hung her mouth open for a while until she turned back to me and growled angrily. She stormed towards my direction, passing me to retrieve her ball. "That's it! I'm ending this right now!" She picked up the ball and kicked it upwards in mid-air.

It flew high into the sky and then began raining down towards our goal, already halfway through the field. Rainbow pushed herself past me, racing towards our goal.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed, warning her of the incoming rocket that I began running after.

She noticed the ball bounce and land in front of her. Then, she lifted her head nervously to see Rainbow Dash only steps away from her. "Gah!" She screamed in fear and kicked it at an angle past the bull. The ball stopped at her right side of the field, which was my left. I quickly raced towards it, knowing Rainbow was only seconds behind me. "Twilight!" I announced again, trying to get her to gain some distance towards Rainbow's goal so I could pass it on to her. Instead, she ran and stopped to the middle of the field. Feeling Rainbow right behind me, I grunted and hurriedly kicked it to Twilight. "It's clear! Just take the shot now!"

Seeing the ball at her feet, Twilight looked my way to see Rainbow stampeding towards her. She only had seconds to make the shot. In a great panic, Twilight quickly hopped back and raised her leg to kick the ball. Just as she swung her foot, she actually missed and lost her balance. She waved her arms around, trying to regain it. She spun one hundred and eighty degrees and wobbled back. Continuing to get back at her feet, she accidentally hit the ball upwards and sent it flying towards our own goal. I gasped and widened my eyes as all three of us stood there in silence. The ball bounced a few times and began rolling slowly towards the imaginary line at the goal. My eyes grew in suspense and anticipation. The ball appeared as if it was just about to stop before crossing the line, however, Rainbow Dash suddenly came into the picture and knocked it inside, removing any hope from us.

Twilight and I, including the rest of the girls at the stands, stood there with our mouths hung open and our face frozen in shock.

"Haha! That's game!" Rainbow returned back to her cheery self as she had officially won the game.

Remaining silent, Twilight slowly slid to the floor and sat with her knees bent up. She sadly wrapped her arms around her legs and lowered her head in shame. Seeing Twilight like this, I quickly raced over to her and knelt down in front of her to comfort her. "Twilight…" I called her name softly.

"It's all my fault. I just lost the game for us!"

"Hey, come on…" I grabbed her hand tenderly and began helping her up as she wiped her eyes with her arms. "We gave it our best…we should be proud of how far we made it."

"But now, Rainbow Dash won't help us!" She allowed her head to fall onto my chest hopelessly.

Seeing her current state, I placed my arms around her and rubbed her back softly, frowning at her despair.

The others, including Rainbow Dash, had walked over to us.

"I... really thought you were gonna... pull it off there in the end!" Rarity spoke, laughing nervously and receiving a glare from Pinkie and Applejack.

Nevertheless, Rainbow grinned and faced Twilight and me. "So what's the plan? How can I help you two win and beat Sunset Shimmer?" She asked, surprising the both of us, especially how we ticked her off in the game.

"But..." Twilight couldn't think clearly, as she was caught off guard with Rainbow's offer. "…but we... lost!"

"Of course you guys lost. I'm awesome!" Rainbow retained her pride, despite how dangerously close she was to losing. "But I'm not going to ask just anyone to try and beat Sunset Shimmer. The Fall Formal Prince and Princess should be someone with heart _and_ determination. You both have proved that you've got 'em both!"

Afterwards, she held out her arms, causing Twilight to grin happily and share a hug with her. The girls around us cheered happily. Pinkie hopped gleefully in the air. Rarity moved her hips in somewhat of a dancing way. Applejack held her hands to her chest in relief. And Fluttershy widened her eyes and kept her hands in front of her mouth excitedly as if she was holding in a huge wave of delight that could just explode at any second.

When they pulled away, I looked at Rainbow Dash and felt the need to apologize for my behavior, despite it being to help Twilight and me.

"Hey, Rainbow…" I spoke, catching her attention. "Sorry for the way I acted… I really didn't mean anything I said back there, and I'm really not the type of person to intentionally annoy anyone… It was just…well…you know, we don't really have much skills into sports as you do, so…we used the only other skill that could give us a chance…"

"Hey." Rainbow placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Trust me, you guys actually handled it pretty nicely. There are definitely worse ways to win a game, but you guys had heart, and you were a pretty awesome team too. Sure, your tactics were a little odd and awkward, but highly effective! And technically nothing against the rules…" She placed a finger on her chin and looked back. "I think…" Nonetheless, she shook her head. "But anyway! No need to worry about that kiss and run." She placed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes egotistically. "I know I have a sleek body and awesome flowing hair, so it's all good." She released half-jokingly and half-serious.

I crossed my arms and gave a catching smirk to her unnecessary comment.

She opened her eyes and noticed my expression. She slid down her look to a warm smile and held out her arms to me this time.

Almost feeling like this was actually Rainbow back home standing in front of me. I smiled heartily and accepted her embrace.

After a joyous moment, we pulled away.

"So, you two look like you could use a treat after that pretty intense soccer game." Rainbow suggested and turned over to the others. "Let's take em over to the Cakes' shop."

"The Cakes' shop?" Twilight returned in a surprised manner, interested in knowing what their place is in this world. "Where's that?"

"Right across the street in front of the school." Applejack answered. "C'mon." She waved her hand and began walking.

"But…what about class?" Twilight inquired about.

Rainbow looked back, chuckling a little. "Lighten up. It's still morning. There's still time before class starts."

* * *

"So they're open early this morning?" Twilight asked as we stopped in front of a building near the street.

"You see the open sign, don't you?" Rainbow Dash asked, pointing out towards the door. "Kids always come here every morning, mainly because they serve up some _delicious_ coffee!"

"Plus, so many sweet treats to eat!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping excitedly. "It's like my favorite place ever!"

"Right…like Sugarcube Corner…" Twilight mentioned under her breath.

"What?" Rainbow asked, seeming to have heard her mention something.

"Oh! Nothing…"

Applejack placed a hand on the handle and pulled the door open. "Well, come on in!"

Twilight and I walked in and looked around, immediately almost noticing the relaxed atmosphere inside. There were a few students already inside, sitting at a table. However, one caught my attention. It was a girl that looked like Vinyl!

"It seems like you guys have never been here before, so I suggest you try the strawberry frappe! It's probably the best to start with…" Rainbow Dash advised to us.

"Um…okay." Twilight looked at the counter where the Cakes apparently were.

Pinkie had dashed over there and already ordered, what appeared to be, some kind of float. When she received it, she skipped happily to a table nearby and sat on a chair. Rainbow took her turn as she ordered two drinks and then looked towards us. "…and two of your signature strawberry frappes! It's on me." She winked at us.

Twilight exchanged a look with each other and lightly shrugged.

We walked towards the counter just as Rainbow received the first two drinks she ordered. "Yours should be out in a second." She told us and walked over to where the rest of the girls began to settle in.

From the counter, we observed Mrs. Cake create our orders. She had obtained two cups and filled them with the hot and steamy liquid. Afterwards, she placed a can of whipped cream above them and sprayed them on the drinks in neat spirals, which had some streaks of strawberry already inside.

"And... could I get mine with extra oats?" Twilight requested as Mrs. Cake sprinkled some little pieces of strawberry on the whipped cream.

However, she looked at Twilight questionably. "Oats?" She inquired, seeming to be unfamiliar of such a request before.

"Uh, scratch that!" Twilight quickly retracted, looking away, blushing, and rocking her body gently in embarrassment. "However you normally make it is fine."

Mrs. Cake seemed to return an unamused expression and placed our orders in front of us.

I noticed a little handle on the side. Cups in Equestria had this same handle too. I looked at my hand. I figured it was similar as in Equestria, so I slipped my hand through the hole and grabbed the cup with my fingers. Twilight did the same. We then both headed over to the girls. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity were sitting on a green striped couch. Spike, appeared to be sleeping on Rarity's lap. Hm. He must have snuck out while Twilight and I were at the counter to be with Rarity…

Rainbow Dash scooted until she reached the end of the couch. "Come on Fluttershy. Scoot over here so we can make some room for Alex and Twilight." She advised.

"Um…" Fluttershy lowered her head a bit, seeming to be nervously shy. "Okay…" She moved closer to Rainbow Dash. Rarity scooted a little more on her side. Twilight and I both sat down with me being next to Fluttershy and Twilight being next to Rarity.

Fluttershy had glanced at me for a second with her eyes and then quickly rolled them away. She seemed to be really embarrassed to make eye contact with me…

"So…" Rainbow Dash announced, seeming to pay attention to Fluttershy's reaction. "Why don't you guys try out those frappes?" Twilight and I looked at our drinks. They did seem to look delicious…mainly due to the whipped cream and strawberries. "Careful though." She warned. "Those things are hot, so take it slow."

We slowly tipped the cups to our lips and sipped them. I could feel the hot liquid enter my mouth. Fortunately, it wasn't steaming or burning hot. It was rather…warmish and mellow.

"Wow…not bad…" I commented, looking at the cup.

"Yeah! It's really good!" Twilight included.

"Told ya so!" Rainbow exclaimed and took a sip of her beverage. She turned her attention towards our hands. "Oh, by the way, you guys are kind of holding the cup weirdly."

"Huh?" Twilight and I questioned.

"Well, usually…people hold their handles with their fingers, but grabbing the whole cup is fine too I guess…"

Twilight and I exchanged another look until we heard the door open and someone walk in. We, including the girls too for some reason, looked at him as he walked past us and towards the counter. He appeared to be familiar. I think I saw him playing a guitar back when we were in the cafeteria with Fluttershy…

"It's a good thing you haven't been seen with him, Twilight." Rarity mentioned.

"What?" Twilight questioned, turning her head towards Rarity. "Why?"

"You're already trying to be Princess of the Fall Formal. Sunset Shimmer would freak out if you were seen with her ex-boyfriend too."

"Ex-boyfriend…?"

"He was the one Sunset Shimmer was dating." Fluttershy explained, allowing the comment she made before with the Fall Formal to make sense. "They used to win Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal the years before, but Flash Sentry broke up with her a few weeks ago. I heard it was because she was starting to get crazy and angry all the time… I can't believe she hasn't done something awful to him yet."

Apparently the guy named Flash Sentry received his drink and began his way walking out. The girls immediately looked around or someplace else, not wanting to draw his attention or let him know that they had been staring at him the whole time. Once he was finally gone, they girls returned to their conversation.

"Maybe she's just waiting until she has the power to do something _really_ awful." Twilight announced.

Applejack, who was sitting informally on a chair as it was turned around the other way, stood up and began speaking to us. "All right. Dance is tomorrow night and we still don't know how we're gonna get Twilight the vote she needs to be named princess. Alex seems to be in the clear, as he's apparently the only guy running for Prince. However, right now, folks only know the Twilight from the videos Sunset Shimmer posted online. We need to help them see her differently."

With this, the girls returned remarks of agreement and they placed their fingers to their chins in thought.

"**I'VE GOT IT!**" Rarity suddenly screamed out, quickly ascending onto her feet and dropping Spike back on the couch. Her outcry received the attention of everyone else in the shop. She was grinning widely, with her hands to her face, as a small oval of pink appeared on both of her cheeks. She looked around, noticing the unwanted attention she gained. "Ahem." She cleared her throat, taking the excitement back a notch. "I mean, um, perhaps I have a solution." She walked towards her bag. "Now this may be an absolutely preposterous idea, _but…_" She bent over and reached into her bag, searching and taking something out._ "…_what if we all wore _these_ as a sign of unity?" She pulled out a headband that had _pony _ears and a sash that had a _pony tail_. They contained the colors of yellow and blue. "Freshman year, they were very, very popular." She placed them on, presenting on how they would look. "A way for everybody to show their school spirit! You know? 'Go, Canterlot Wondercolts!'" She hopped into the air cheerfully. Receiving a not so enthusiastic response from us, she lowered her head and cleared her throat again. "Ahem. I haven't sold any in ages." However, she returned to her bag and pulled out several more pairs of the headbands. "I mean, the five of us are obviously very different, but deep down, we're all Canterlot Wondercolts!" She passed one to each of the girls. Pinkie immediately placed it on and grinned. "Sunset Shimmer is the one who divided us; Twilight Sparkle and Alex are the ones who united us." Everybody else placed on these headbands but Twilight and me. "And we're gonna let everyone know it!" She placed one on Twilight and then finally me, sending me familiar flirtatious eyes. "What do you think?" She asked the rest of the girls.

After a moment of exchanging looks, the girls looked back at us and nodded, grinning or sticking their thumbs up.

"Well then, if we're gonna change everybody's mind, then we should work back on our old cheer and mix it up a little, don't ya think?" Applejack offered towards the others.

"Yeah, totally!" Rainbow agreed. "If we work together, we can really raise the school spirit in everyone!"

"Then it's settled!" Rarity finalized. "We begin working on our cheer immediately, and then at lunch, we show everyone what've got!"

As the girls began agreeing excitedly about their situation, Twilight and I looked at each other, not exactly knowing what _they_ were talking about.

After we were all finished, the girls immediately began heading out the door of the shop to walk back to school. However, I wanted to meet with Vinyl before I left. I knew I couldn't have a real talk with her, as she didn't know me in this world, so I decided I would just at least compliment her before I left.

"Nice shades." I expressed to her as I walked by with a warm smile.

"Huh?" She turned around and noticed. "Oh! Thanks, dude."

I only continued smiling, especially at a memory between us that she technically didn't know about.

* * *

As planned, during their free time, the girls worked on whatever song they were talking about in the first place, slipping on sweatshirts that belonged with the uniform. Rarity had given us a couple of sweatshirts as well, along with the tail.

When we placed them on, Twilight and I looked at each other and then laughed.

"Just like back home, huh?" I asked her.

"What?" Rarity questioned, not knowing the insider between us.

"Nothing…" Twilight returned with her eyes back in thought.

As soon as the school bell rang for lunch, Rarity and the other girls escorted us to the doors of the lunch room.

"You two stay here. The others and I will get all of us started. When we give you the signal, you do your part and add in, okay?" Rarity mentioned and began walking in the room after all the girls.

"Wait!" Twilight called, holding out her hand. Rarity stopped for a moment to look back at us. "What's the signal?"

Rarity lowered her eyelids halfway and smirked softly. "Trust me, you'll know." Afterwards, she continued on.

Twilight inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it. "Whew… I'm a little nervous… Are you ready?" She asked.

I smiled softly and grabbed her hand, holding it up in front of us. "We're in this together."

Twilight responded with another warm smile at me. Then, she widened her eyes in realization. "Hey! Where's Spike?" She asked, looking around her for her bag.

I thought for a moment. "I think Rarity took your bag with him inside…"

"Huh?" Twilight replied until we heard a pattern of noise coming from the lunchroom.

There was a banging, but not any other ordinary banging. It started off in a patterned motion, and then other noises synchronized with it. A loud simultaneous clap ensued. After a moment, a chanting sounded.

"Hey! Hey! Everybody!

We've got something to say.

We may seem as different,

As the night is from day.

But you look a little deeper,

And you will see:

That I'm just like you

And you're just like me.

Yeah!" What I assumed to be the girls, cheered as they followed along a guitar riff. After a moment of silenced vocals, they resumed.

"Hey! Hey! Everybody!

We're here to shout,

That the magic of friendship

Is what it's all about.

Yeah, we thought we were different,

As the night is from the day.

Until Twilight and Alex helped us see another way.

So get up, get down.

If you're gonna come around.

We can work together,

Helping Twilight and Alex win the crowns.

So get up, get down.

'Cause it's gonna make a sound.

If we work together,

Helping Twilight and Alex win the crowns." I couldn't help be feel really…brought in…by their song. It was just so catchy, I was finding myself beginning to clap and even sing along with them.

"Hey! Hey! Hands up now!" Pinkie sang cheerfully.

"We're sending a message to the crowd!

Hands way up, then come down,

We party together all around!"

"Generous, honesty." Rarity began.

"Laughter, kindness, loyalty." Applejack continued.

"Twilight and Alex helped us each to see." Fluttershy included.

"All that we can be. So…" Rainbow finished before the rest of them joined back together.

"Get up, get down.

If you're gonna come around.

We can work together,

Helping Twilight and Alex win the crowns.

So get up, get down.

'Cause it's gonna make a sound.

If we work together,

Helping Twilight and Alex win the crowns."

The doors in front of us suddenly opened, revealing the girls on the other sides welcoming us inside. Twilight gasped happily and excitedly held my hand to bring me with her side by side.

Already feeling the adrenaline pumping inside of us, we both began singing our part.

"We're gonna be ourselves

No matter what we do!" Twilight and I directed to each other happily, but announced towards the students in the area as well.

"And if we're different, yeah,

We want you to be true to you!" The guy from the shop suddenly included his guitar in, going along with the song.

"If you follow us," Twilight and I danced with each other softly for a moment.

"We'll put our differences aside.

We'll stick together

And start working on that school pride!" We exclaimed as the rest of the girls presented us.

"Jump up, make a sound. Hey!" The girls sang and danced while I stood in the middle, clapping, singing, and stomping my foot along with the rhythm. During this moment, only our voices, claps, and stomps were audible.

"Stomp your hooves, turn around.

Start now, make a change,

Gonna come around." Drums and a guitar soon joined along as the girls encouraged the other students to participate, livening things up.

"Jump up, make a sound. Hey!

Stomp your hooves, turn around.

Canterlot Wondercolts

Help them win the crowns!" The guitar immediately came on strongly, really pumping our blood up.

"Jump up, make a sound. Hey!" Pinkie Pie threw Rarity's costumes upwards in the air, where everyone caught one and began placing it on themselves.

"Stomp your hooves, turn around!

Start now, make a change,

Gonna come around.

Jump up, make a sound. Hey!" Everyone else in the cafeteria soon began dancing along.

"Stomp your hooves, turn around.

Canterlot Wondercolts

Help them win the crowns.

Jump up, make a sound. Hey!

Stomp your hooves, turn around.

Start now, make a change,

Gonna come around.

Jump up, make a sound. Hey!

Stomp your hooves, turn around.

Canterlot Wondercolts

Help them win the crowns!

Jump up, make a sound. Hey!

Stomp your hooves, turn around.

Start now, make a change,

And help them win the crowns!" All of us finished together in unison, receiving a really loud and energetic cheer from everyone else. We could definitely tell we placed a huge positive impact on every one of the students.

"All right! Yeah!" The girls and I clapped hands in success.

They began running out the doors in exhilaration. I was about to run after them until two hands were stuck out towards me from another person with a familiar object on it: a muffin. I looked at it for a moment in silent awe and looked at the face behind it. It was Derpy…or at least her other self. She was smiling brightly as she wore the pony ears and tail as well. "This is for you!"

I was touched. I knew this Derpy didn't know me like the one back home did, but all these girls just reminded me so much of the ones back in Equestria. I gently accepted the muffin, sending her a warm smile. "Thank you…" I lightly brought her in for a heartfelt embrace. She didn't seem to mind, as she grinned happily. Yeah…just like back home…

As I entered the library, which was where the girls were spending the last of lunch in, I looked around. I saw them gathered around a table, excitedly talking. I was guessing they were talking about probably the success they made from our presentation in the cafeteria. I was just about to join them until I saw that Fluttershy was missing. I turned my head around the library to look for her. After a moment, I found her body, which seemed to be hidden in the corner of the library. She was sitting on the floor with her knees upward. Her backpack was resting on her knees, as she seemed to be messing with something inside of it. I assumed it was her animal friends.

As soon as the thought of walking to her to speak with her came on my mind, I felt my heart actually flutter itself. I lightly gulped and began heading to her instead.

She hadn't noticed me when I was close by. She seemed to be distracted with her friends, whom she was playing with. I actually hesitated speaking up. I didn't really know why I acted like this when I actually really knew her.

"Hey…" I finally managed to say.

She gasped, becoming lightly startled. "Oh…um…h-hi…" She looked away, appearing to be too embarrassed to even look at me.

I took a seat next to her. I began getting so many mixed feelings. My heart was making me act like if this WAS Fluttershy…but my head was telling me that it wasn't exactly her at the same time. This conflict between them seemed to make me feel nervous of my actions, but I couldn't help but have the same love for her…

"What's the matter…?" I asked, unable to really think clearly of what to say.

She messed with the fingers on her hands. "…nothing…"

Seeing as it was going to be pretty hard making conversation, I decided to apologize for my action the first time I met her.

"Listen…sorry about when I hugged you so suddenly…It's just that…" I paused, being unable to bring anything back from Equestria. "…I'm a really protective kind of guy…" She didn't answer. She only created a circular motion with her finger on the carpet. "I kind of feel…like…ever since I did that…you can't really talk to me…like…I really scared you or something…"

"I-It's fine…" She mumbled softly. She glanced at me for a second and then returned her eyes back to the floor. "…A-And…It's…not that…"

Feeling my emotions want to take over, I placed my hand delicately on her shoulder. This caused her to gasp. She turned her head towards me and began forming a light shade of red in her face. "You don't have to be afraid to talk to me…" I told her comfortingly. "I know you're a little shy…but…I'm not here to pick on you or anything…"

Keeping her flushed look, she turned her head towards her backpack and continued muttering softly. "I-I know…"

"You don't need to be scared of me…" was all I could really muster up.

"…sorry…It's no wonder most of my friends are animals…I guess…I'm not really good for anything…"

"Don't say that." I immediately returned, causing her to be lightly surprised. "You're a very special girl. Don't let anyone else say that you're not. So what if you're mainly friends with animals? It's just that…you're scared of people hurting you…and you know that animals can't when you befriend them… I've been there…well…except for the animals part…but…I mean…" I lowered my head and stared at my hand that was lying next to hers. "You know…I…I understand you… I know that we don't…really know each other…but trust me…I do. And…I'd never want to hurt you…"

Fluttershy stared at me in shock. "R…really…? You really…mean all that…?"

"Yeah…" I cautiously lifted my hand and gently placed it on hers. I lifted my head to look at her. She noticed and her face immediately began filling with redness, but she didn't really seem to freak out. "…I do…" I gazed into her eyes.

At that moment, that's all we could do in silence. We gazed at each other for a moment. I almost actually saw Fluttershy from our world in her pony form right in front of me. This made me…want to just…kiss her…

However, our gaze was broken when the sound of a bell pieced through the silent corner we sat in.

Fluttershy gasped and immediately stood up, wrapping her backpack around her. "Um…I…I should start heading to…class…"

"Oh…" I answered, feeling a little down after we were already starting to…make a connection. "…okay…"

"I'll…I'll see you…um…later…" She glanced back a little embarrassingly. "Th…thank you…"

Afterwards, she walked out in a hurried manner. At the front of the library, by the doors, I could see her being confronted by Rainbow Dash. They walked as the rest of the girls, excluding Twilight, left. Speaking of Twilight, she poked her head into the area I was in and saw me.

"Hey there!" She walked towards me with a smile. "What are you doing sitting here?" She plopped down next to me.

"I was…talking to Fluttershy…" I answered.

"Oh really? Hm." Twilight looked ahead in the empty library.

"Twilight…" I called.

"Hm?" She turned back to me.

"…I can tell you anything, right?"

"Of course." Twilight moved her body closer to mine, finding that I was in a more serious mood.

I hesitated for a moment. "…would it…would it be wrong if…if I have feelings for Fluttershy in this world too?"

Twilight widened her eyes. "I…I don't know…" She placed a finger on her chin. "I mean…I don't think so… She _is_ Fluttershy, just like the one back home…only…she's not a pony and she doesn't really know us… Do you…have the same feelings for her…?"

"Yeah…I believe so…" I sighed. "You know…it's just like…if she's _here _with me. Even though she technically isn't, this Fluttershy seems to make that…connection anyway. It's…complicated to explain…"

Twilight placed a hand on my shoulder. "I think I understand at what you're getting at… To be honest…I don't really think it's bad, Alex. You still love Fluttershy. Even though she might look different, it's _still_ her."

"Yeah…I guess…" I managed to smile softly and look at Twilight. "Thanks, Twi…"

She giggled a little. "No problem." I felt the need to show my thanks by a friendly kiss on her cheek. When I did that, she widened her eyes and placed a hand on her cheek as I stood up. "Well, that's a first…" She reacted a little playfully.

"Huh?" I looked back.

"That's the first time you ever willingly did that." She explained.

I was surprised of this myself. "What? Really?"

She chuckled. "Yeah. Other times, it's been usually me doing that."

"Oh…heh…sorry. I guess I'm only really used to kissing Fluttershy…" I apologized. "I don't mind any from you girls, but I'm not used to the idea of giving any friendly ones out, as I never did before I met you girls."

"Don't worry about it." Twilight stood up and walked by my side. She patted my back and smiled. "Our last day is tomorrow. We've got not only a big day, but night as well to be ready for."

"Yeah…" I looked out into the library. "Our last day…"

* * *

For the rest of the day, Twilight spent most of the time reading books in the library, which she really didn't mind. She had me know if there's anything I needed, or wanted to talk to her about, I could come to her. However, I had walked up to the second floor of the library and to the temporary bed we were using. I laid myself down and stared upwards past the windows to the endless sky. I thought so much about so many things: the ponies back home…the situation with Fluttershy…and even Starlight… I hadn't even seen her at all today besides this early morning. I wonder if something has troubled her deeply…which caused her to hate me so much…

"Hey." I heard Spike walk by and jump on the makeshift bed.

"Spike?" I inquired. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…you know. Twilight's reading, and it gets kind of boring reading too and stuff…" He returned. "What are _you_ doing?"

"…just thinking…" I continued staring at the sky.

"About what?"

"A bunch of stuff…"

"Well, I have to admit." Spike believed. "Being a dog is pretty awesome here. Rarity has been giving me a lot of attention."

I smiled lightly. "Heh. Yeah. You know… Don't take this the wrong way, but you actually look pretty adorable as a dog."

"I guess I can't really take it offensive from a dude." He chuckled.

I chuckled a little as well. "Hey…" I released after realizing something. "I forgot to ask but…how did _you_ come with us? I thought we were the only ones who went through the mirror."

"You did…but…" He rubbed his paw on the books a little embarrassingly. "I…kind of panicked and ran in too…"

"Hm." I smiled. "Didn't want to be without Twilight, huh?"

He rubbed his head. "I guess…"

Nonetheless, I gave a little scratching on his head, which he seemed to enjoy. Of course, not as much as when Rarity did it.

* * *

I must have dozed off because I was awoken by Twilight's voice.

"Falling asleep already?" She asked.

I groaned lightly and opened my eyes to see Twilight smiling lightheartedly at me.

"Oh. Um." I rubbed my eye. "I guess I just…fell asleep…" I sat up and placed my feet on the side of the bed. "It happens sometimes…" Twilight took a seat next to me. "When I don't really have anything to do, I just throw myself on the bed, rest my eyes with no intention of falling asleep…but I do anyway. I think my sleeping schedule is messed up…"

Twilight giggled lightly. "Well, it looks like you and Spike sure were bonding." She pointed out to Spike, who was still sleeping on the other side. "You two looked so cute sleeping together."

"Oh…" I chuckled a little embarrassing, rubbing my head. "Yeah…we were talking for a while…" I looked up to see that the sky had already been shifted to darkness. "Whoa, it's night already?"

"Yep."

"Hm…" I grabbed my backpack nearby and began taking out the items for bedtime. I first grabbed a pillow, lightly picked up Spike and placed him on there, later transferring the pillow on the top part of the bed to make room for Twilight. I placed the other two pillows for Twilight and me, and then took out the lunar blanket and spread that out.

Twilight yawned, stretched out her arms and waved a hand in of her face. "Well, I guess it's time for bed."

"Yeah…" I agreed. "Apparently…our last night here."

Twilight laid herself down on the bed, getting comfortable with the blanket. However, I sat there for a moment in silence. Twilight noticed no change in my posture, so she sat up to speak with me. "You alright?"

"Oh…um…yeah…" I answered, snapping myself out a bit. I laid back in bed and covered myself. "I just…have a lot on my mind…"

"A goodnight's sleep will probably help." She returned.

"Yeah…" I rested my head on the pillow. "Okay…"

"Goodnight, Alex." She offered before she rested her body once again and closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, Twi." I wished.

I couldn't help it. The thought of Fluttershy was really getting to me… I just couldn't stop thinking about her anymore. Due to this, I was unable to fall asleep for a while. But finally, when I was allowed to, I just…let go for a moment…


	3. Day 3

**TheRyuuMaster: It wasn't terrible...just the sucky romance writing...**

**Freewing Alchemist: Thanks. And you made a typo on Alex's name lol.**

**nekolover3: Glad you're enjoying it.  
**

**Lord Curly: It was confirmed that he wouldn't be returning in Season 4.**

**Matthais123: No, it will definitely not end Starlight's arc.**

**Wow again: At least you're a lot less "assy" than you were before. Everything that happened was for a reason and simply not just done because it "seemed cool" or such. You say the relationship with Fluttershy seems weak. I don't exactly see how it could. I would if Alex simply treated her as any other pony but only included kisses and such. I try to make this relationship...really...I don't really know the word for it right now but...uh...I guess strong? But I have a limit, which you can probably figure out. No idea on how the element is "laughable". In that case, all the other Elements would be laughable too if you were like an old adult that strayed away from kids' shows. Things you bring up, like the Alicorn transformation, like I said, I didn't just do it because it seemed cool or I wanted to. In fact, I was a little afraid of doing this because some people were already complaining about him being "Gary Stuish" when he was just an Earth Pony, which I believe is people's ignorance towards OCs actually interacting with the official characters and establishing well relationships with them (ONLY in SOME cases). Anyways, back on the Alicorn transformation, I did that mainly to unlock more possibilities and open more doors and opportunities to occur and explore. Once again, his depressed mood was not added in to make him look less "Gary Stuish". There are various reasons for it, but in this case I'll mention one. We've already seen all six characters, and they all already seem to be content with their lives. Instead of seeing another character added in with his already "happy-go-lucky" personality, isn't it much more interesting and drawing to see the progression of meeting six seemingly simple mares who actually turn his life for the better by just being themselves? ****Not to mention the fact that holding this mood allows many more readers to relate to this character who aren't as bright and cheery as the other characters.** I could honestly go on on all of this, but I'm trying to make this as brief as possible. About Luna, this situation is similar to the Alicorn transformation, you know, opening more opportunities and doors and such, but you really have to dig in to this story, go beyond the words and think outside the box, rather than just stay glued to the fact that "OMG! MOM?! STUPID GARY STU POS!" like most asses do if you really want to know why I do what I do and perhaps even actually enjoy it. The reason why I think you might think these are "poorly done" plot elements is because you're still a little stuck on the fact that it's an OC that's being explored through this story rather than a main character or even background character. It's probably my fault too, as I've seen I could have worked out the beginning of the story better, which I'm hoping to fix on soon.

**Instead of saying "emo", just say emotional then, seriously. And you _do_ know that a cutie mark isn't _just_ a talent? Of course, this is usually a talent a pony takes on a job towards for background ponies, as they really have nothing to explore and are there just to be there. But as for the main characters, and Alex, this is more of a _personality_, with the talent being a perk as well. For example, yes Rainbow is a weather pony and she has a cloud in her cutie mark, but why have the rainbow included? Yes, obviously, she performed a sonic rainboom, but her job isn't doing sonic rainbooms is it? If a cutie mark was just to reveal a talent or job, then she would just have a cloud or something else with the weather. But the rainbow ties in with her personality, in some points, obviously, and most importantly, by symbolism. I probably should have brought up Pinkie Pie instead, as she's easier to explain. Her job is being a baker, or helping Mr. and Ms. Cake run the sweet shop. However, her cutie mark are balloons, because she loves to party or she parties a lot. And loving to party? I'd say that follows more on her cheerful and friendly personality/character. Yes, Alex finds a job being an Artist, which brings you to the point, why not just have a cutie mark of something with art instead? Well, that's not what I wanted to focus on. That's not his _true_ self. I mean...it is, but not _everything_ about him. The wolf, in this case, would be a symbol of him and his personality. Something you hopefully got after the first incident with Discord. Art, would just metaphorically be under his...cutie mark umbrella...?**

**The "nothing matters..." thing? There may have been a few instances where this is briefly shown, but he has no complete attitude from this. Only in the first Discord occurrence and event was this strongly instilled, but of course, that was when Discord corrupted him and fully presented the opposite of who he _really_ was. I know how his name isn't exactly "pony-like". And there are once again many reasons why I give him his current name, which I much prefer you to figure out for yourself instead, but I will tell you _one_. One reason why I didn't want him to give him what you refer to a "pony name" was because it would take away the...seriousness and reality of the current situation and struggle he has to deal with in the first season. Like I said, if he would have came off as another usual "happy-go-lucky" pony, yeah, I would have given him a pony name. But otherwise, in order for the reader (if he doesn't already rage because of an OC) to drive more into the story and possibly relate to it, I chose the most appropriate name I could think of, even though I find it pretty common now among other stories...**

**If there's anything you want to continue discussing, dealing with this story, I'd advise sending me a message or something, as this is the last chapter in this story. Hopefully, you'll eventually see beyond these ideas you thought were "lacking" in and see why they were brought in the first place.**

**ReesesPieces247: Enjoy.**

**Azturner: Thanks.**

**charizardag: Hope you like.  
**

**TwilitPonyWhiteAbyss: Ooh?**

**Da-OGJ-Toni: :l**

**PRR Gangsta: *shrug***

**MovienerdKing: Well, you'll find out.  
**

**Ecomonococo: Hopefully.**

**Antonio Harribel: Maybe... And I'm not sure. I'd have to see what goes down in Season 4.**

**BronyCentral: Thank you... That really means a lot.**

**Bronyruff Brandon: Well, I mean it's true. Even I feel that I have hard times writing out feelings I really want to describe perfectly. But thanks anyway.**

**Elemental Lightning: You could say that.**

**DeadSpace123: Hope you enjoy.**

**The Shadow Syndicate: You know, I've been really struggling with the comics. I don't know why. There's just something about them...probably because they aren't exactly canon. I'll try seeing what I can do with the comics, but I might take a break after this. About the Alicorn OCs. I believe they are fine ONLY when they're done right. Not for the sake of being an all-powerful pony that every single pony looks after and adores, etc. You get what I mean.**

Day 3 – The Fall Formal

* * *

"Good morning students. I'm sure you're as excited as I am for today. Today's the day of the Fall Formal, the dance you've been looking forward to all this week. If haven't already picked up a ballet for this year's Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal, make sure to do so, as today is the _last day_. I don't want any complainers running to my office if they missed out. Remember to cast them in _before _the dance starts. If you have any more questions, please come by to see me."

Celestia's voice woke me up. As I stretched and yawned, I could hear Spike and Twilight moving in conscious as well.

"Morning." I greeted her.

"Morning!" She yawned and stretched out as well.

I began packing back my pillow inside my backpack until we all unexpectedly heard Rarity's voice from downstairs.

"Alex! Twilight! Are you two in here?"

"Rarity?" Twilight called, completely surprised to hear her voice.

"Go on ahead and meet with her, I'll pack up everything." I assured.

"Okay." Twilight grabbed her backpack, stood up, and began making her way to Rarity. Spike immediately ran off behind her, wanting to obviously see Rarity again.

Not wanting to waste any time, I hastily continued to pack, folding the blanket and almost stuffing it in, along with Twilight's and Spike's pillows, inside. While doing this, I heard some crumpling inside. "Huh?" I questioned to myself. I searched for the source and noticed several very thin slips of paper inside. Only when I pulled it out, it wasn't exactly paper. It appeared to be several photos of the outside field where Twilight and I were playing with Rainbow Dash. But for some reason…there were certain figures or forms that were cut out. I don't remember putting these inside my bag…

"Alex?!" I heard Rarity called again, canceling any investigation of the pictures. I quickly placed them in my bag, swung it across my shoulder, and rushed downstairs.

I saw Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack, including Twilight and Spike in the first floor. They seemed to have been waiting for us.

"What? What's going on?" I asked.

"_You_ should come outside and take a look…" Rarity answered.

"What?" Twilight asked, confused for a moment.

Applejack waved her hand in a motion for us to follow her and led us to the doors of the library. From there, she opened them and revealed the students that walked in the hallways. Every one of them was wearing those pony ear headbands and tails. I guess our work paid off…

The school bell rang, leading for the rest of the girls to escort Twilight and me through the hallways as we continued to notice every student that seemed to support us.

Rarity chuckled a little. "Doesn't everyone look just fabulous?"

"It was a great idea, Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed, congratulating Rarity.

However, our smiles were cut short when we saw a familiar group walking our way. Sunset Shimmer and Starlight were walking side by side. Two younger kids, who I assumed to be Snips and Snails due to their obvious features, were walking by them as well. Sunset Shimmer had this evil smirk to her face, as if she had this dastardly plan going on in her head. Surprisingly, Starlight didn't look the same way. She wasn't happy. She furrowed her eyebrows a bit angrily…and she was frowning…as if she was annoyed.

"Don't know what she's smilin' about." Applejack noticed and commented. "Twilight's the one that's gonna be princess of the Fall Formal." She paused and analyzed the group more; spotting the girl they'd never seen before we came. "And what's-her-name is with her too…I saw her the other time when she was hanging around with Sunset Shimmer when they came by the gym. I've never seen her any time before that…"

"Uh…" I tried to say something, but I was too distracted as they walked by us. Sunset Shimmer obviously had that smug look on her face. So did those two other kids, but they really looked like they were trying too hard when they really didn't know what was going on. Snips placed two fingers on his eyes and then pointed at us with Snails laughing behind him. Childish and…kind of annoying…

However, Starlight interested me the most. Usually, she would have probably been wearing more of a face Sunset Shimmer had, but instead, she only glanced at me for a few seconds, and the continued forward, seeming to still be bothered by our last confrontation in the library.

They stopped at a door, continuing to look despicably smug. Only Starlight appeared different otherwise, merely waiting with her arms crossed and looking back in annoyance and perhaps even impatience.

"Vice-Principal Luna!" Sunset Shimmer cried out when she poked herself out. I widened my eyes in seeing her for the first time here. This was my mother! Well…sort of… "Something terrible has happened!" She announced dramatically, holding her hands together in grievance.

"What is it, Sunset?" Luna asked.

"You have to come see for yourself!" Sunset Shimmer returned in agony. She grabbed Luna's hand and began leading her hurriedly through the hallway.

"…what do you suppose she's doing?" Applejack asked, revealing a suspicious glare.

"What _can_ she do?" Rarity asked, appearing to not be so worried. "We've already reached out to the other students to help Twilight and Alex win their crowns. What can she possibly do? Get the Vice Principal to ban Twilight and Alex from the dance?" Rarity laughed. "Ha! How on earth can she do _that_ on the day of the dance?!"

I placed my fingers to my chin in thought. "I don't know, Rarity…but we already know that whatever Sunset Shimmer does can't so easily fail or be broken…" I paused for a moment. "I just…I just can't think of what she _could_ do…"

"Well, whatever. We have her beat and she knows it." Rainbow Dash offered. "She knows no one is gonna vote for her now. She's probably just trying some last desperate attempt to get everyone's attention. You know what? She's probably trying to fake some accident to get people to feel sorry for her! What a dirtbag!"

"Oooh!" Pinkie Pie suddenly shivered. "That was weird… Why do I feel so strange all of a sudden?"

"You probably need something in your stomach." Rainbow replied. "Come on! Let's head over to the Cakes' shop!"

Applejack suddenly shushed us with her eyes darting forward. "Shh! Shh! Shh! Here she comes!" She directed to Luna, who walking our way.

However, the way she looked made me nervous. She wasn't just walking in our _direction_; she looked like if she was walking right towards us!

"Twilight, Alex?" She asked in a very stern voice.

"…yes…?" Twilight answered, feeling as if no good was coming from this.

"In my office. Now." She pointed to the room she had originated from.

"What? Why?" Twilight questioned, feeling shocked.

Luna didn't answer. She only narrowed her eyes and threw her finger towards the door once again.

Twilight must have felt nervous or frightened as well, as she grabbed my hand almost tightly and held on to it as we walked towards her office like puppies with no clue what we did.

"Hold on, Vice-Principal Luna!" Applejack called out. "What's going on here?"

"This is a matter between us, Applejack." Luna returned briefly before she closed the door shut once we were inside.

The room was different. It was rather bathed in darkness than securing light. Only the blinds by the window allowed seeping sunlight through.

"You sure like to work in the dark…huh…?" I asked.

"Take a seat." She coldly ignored my comment, walking towards the window and looking out.

Twilight and I glanced at each other for a moment, but obeyed her order nonetheless. We sat down across from her near the table in front of us.

"What is going on?" Twilight inquired, almost fearfully. "Why did you bring us in here? Are we in trouble?"

"There's something I'd like to show the both of you." She answered and pulled out a folder, later tossing it lightly on the table.

"What is it…?" Twilight shot another question.

"Open it and look for yourselves."

Twilight hesitantly turned the front part of the folder to the left, and what we found inside was quite…shocking…

"What the…" Twilight responded, unable to grasp control of the situation. "What is this?"

"That is the both of you." Luna answered. "And behind you is the prepared designated area for the Fall Formal, which is now destroyed. You two seemed to have an awfully good time…"

"What?!" I returned, observing the pictures closely. "Are you saying that we trashed the gym!?"

"Well, those two individuals in the photographs are obviously you two, are they not? Unless some pranksters had some very good costumes to share…"

"This is us…" Twilight replied. "…but…we never did anything like this…we have no reason to!"

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but these photos speak for themselves. Your word cannot overcome the power of evidence held against you."

"B…but…" Twilight was speechless.

I scoffed lightly. "C'mon, mom, you're overrea—"

"What was that?" Luna immediately questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Having that second to realize what I had just done, I was just as speechless as Twilight was. "…uh…" I pushed through widened eyes.

Luna placed both of her hands on the table and lurched over, sending us, but practically me, a nasty glare. "I'll have you know that I am _not_ your mother, nor did I have any children at all, understand?" She shared in a very bold and well hidden anger.

"Ouch…" I muttered under my breath. "Right in the feels…" Nonetheless, I had to get back on topic. "Look…um…Vice-Principal Luna. We swear, we did _not_ destroy the preparations for the Fall Formal! We absolutely have no reason to! We were looking forward to it, _tonight_!" I emphasized.

"Unless you have any other proof or evidence on hand," Luna answered. "This conversation is over. I think it should be fairly obvious that the school cannot let anyone who would do something like this compete for the Fall Formal crowns."

Luna continued to eye us in a disappointed and irritated manner, as if she was expecting some confession from us. Twilight tried to explain whatever she could by holding up a finger to speak, but no words came out. She didn't know what to say. She could only surrender and place her hands on her eyes, feeling defeat.

I sighed and lowered my head towards the table, even banging it lightly. My eyes slowly drifted towards the pictures again, where we seemed to appear to be actually destroying the gym and then celebrating afterwards. Geez…why does everything look so…forced and uncalled for?

"Well?" Luna announced, slightly in impatience. "If there is nothing else you two like to share, I suppose you can only apologize or confess?"

I released an angry breath through my nose, becoming irritated with this Luna's stubbornness and closed-minded head.

Twilight sighed and lowered her head for a while. Then, she raised it back up to Luna, almost teary-eyed. She was about to speak right when I took a second glance at the pictures and suddenly realized something. "I—"

"Hold on!" I exclaimed, surprising the both of them. I quickly reached for my backpack and dug my arm inside. "I think I know what happened!" I added, causing Luna to raise an eyebrow in interest. "Look!" I pulled out those cutout photos I had found earlier this morning. "I found these in the library!" I revealed them on the table. "I don't know how whoever did this, but it all makes sense now!" I pointed to the original photos that were cut. "These pictures were taken when Twilight and I were playing soccer at the field." I explained. "Someone _somehow_ was able to cut us out of the original photo and edit us into these!" I then pointed to the altered photos. "In reality, these photos were taken of the background of the gym, but we were edited into it, making us look like we were the ones responsible for the damage! If you look closely, you can obviously see our poses don't exactly fit or match the damage caused in the gym. I mean, seriously, how can you expect Twilight to break an _entire_ table with one kick like that?!" I glanced over to Twilight to apologize shortly. "No offense, of course."

"Heh." Twilight grinned a little in relief. "None taken…"

Luna picked up each photograph and analyzed thoroughly. "I must admit…you do have a point..." Luna continued messing with them. "With these…I can far more believe that you two have no real intention of causing such mess… I suppose you're allowed to continue running for Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal."

Twilight gasped and immediately pulled me in for a hug, almost dropping me off from my seat. "I can't believe it! You did it!"

I chuckled a little. "I don't exactly know how…but…" I shrugged lightly.

"However," Luna spoke, catching our attention. "I must inform you that I am afraid enough damage has been done to the gym that we will have to postpone the dance until tomorrow night. If you will excuse me, I need to let my sister know about this latest development." She walked out of the office.

Nonetheless, Twilight continued embracing me tightly in happiness. "Oh! This is so great! We're back on…" She suddenly paused and widened her eyes. "Wait…Tomorrow night!?" She exclaimed, releasing me and began to shake her head in panic. "No, no no no no no, no no no no no! Nonononono! The portal! That'll be too late!"

Before I could try to speak with Twilight, holding my hand up, the door suddenly opened. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow walked in a rushed matter.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" Applejack asked urgently.

"Well, uh…" Twilight tried to answer, but she couldn't say anything about our true intentions.

"Are you two still able to run for the crowns?!" Rarity asked desperately, holding Twilight's arms tightly.

"Well, now we are, but—"

"Ah!" Rarity released in relief. "Fantastic! Come then! We still have time before our class. We must plan out our attire for tonight!" She grabbed both of our hands and began pulling us excitedly out of the room.

"But…!" Twilight tried to interfere, but the largest obstacle in doing so was trying to explain the real situation behind the scenes.

* * *

Rarity dragged us over to this apparent dress shop, which really reminded me of her boutique back in Equestria. But there was no time to reminisce about anything from Equestria, because as of things going on right now, we might not even be able to get back in time.

"Behold!" Rarity exclaimed, presenting the entire interior of the shop to us. "The Cakes' might be Pinkie's favorite place to be, but this is surely _mine_! Go on! Try anything you'd like!"

"We need to talk. Now." Twilight grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the dressing room nearby.

"Uh-oh…" I could even hear Rainbow Dash mention.

As soon as we were inside, Twilight placed her backpack down on the stool and planted herself worriedly on the wall. Spike poked his head out.

"Everything okay in there?" Rarity asked from the other side of the curtain.

"Yes!" Twilight exclaimed back and then lowered her voice. "Only it's not okay. It's not okay at all! If we don't get our crowns tonight, we won't be able to go back to Equestria for another thirty moons!" Twilight allowed her body to slide down and sit on the floor. "Oh, what are we gonna do?"

"Hmm." Spike thought as I attempted to comfort Twilight by placing an arm around her. "We tell them the truth. Let them know what's really at stake if you don't get the crowns tonight. They'll help us figure something out."

"Spike…" I returned. "The whole reason why we didn't ask for the crowns back is because people here aren't really willing to believe magical ponies went through a mirror to get to this world in order to retrieve two stolen crowns."

"Well…we have to let them know somehow. You guys only have today left to get back your crowns. If you want to do that, you need help. And the girls here seem to be the only ones who know how to do things around here."

I sighed and looked away in thought for a moment. "…I guess you're right… It's better than nothing…and I feel it's the only real option we have right now to get it done by tonight."

"Even if they _do_ believe us…" Twilight spoke. "What if they won't?" She turned towards a mirror and observed herself. "What if when they find out how different we really are...?"

"Hey, these girls rallied around you two 'cause they saw what was in each of your hearts! They aren't going to feel any differently about you when they find out you're both really a pony prince and princess in Equestria." Spike offered.

"Yeah…Spike's right." I agreed. "The hardest part is getting them to believe us. If they actually believe that we're ponies back in a land filled with many more ponies, and not think we're crazy, I'm sure they wouldn't mind helping us. We just need to show them that we're still us…despite what we really are."

Twilight shifted her eyes around for a moment and then formed a light smile. She turned back to the both of us. "I'm glad you two are here with me." She expressed softly as she brought me in for a hug and petted Spike lightly on the head.

"Me too." Spike answered. "Unless of course we get stuck here for another thirty moons."

"Hey." I responded. "At least you'll have a Rarity here too." I smirked softly.

"Eh." Spike shrugged lightly. "I think I have a better chance in Equestria. Here, I'm more of a house pet."

Twilight and I chuckled a bit to that answer.

After, I faced Twilight and held out my hand. "Come on. Let's do it together."

Releasing a soft smile, she nodded warmly and grabbed my hand. Holding on to it, I stood up and placed my other hand on the edge of the curtain, opening quickly to reveal the three of us standing, prepared to explain the truth.

"You okay?" Applejack asked us, standing in front of us, along with each of the other girls, all holding a piece of their own clothing. Fluttershy was poking her head out of another dressing room and Rarity was sitting on the seat between.

"The Fall Formal isn't happening tonight." Twilight began, motioning her eyes towards the floor and back to the girls.

"WHAT!?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in shock.

"It had to be postponed because Sunset Shimmer had Snips and Snails ruin all of Pinkie Pie's decorations." Twilight explained.

"_WHAT?!" _Pinkie now shouted out louder.

"The Fall Formal _has_ to happen tonight."

"Wha—!" Pinkie tried to yell out again, but Applejack covered her mouth with her hand, forming narrowed eyes.

Finally, Twilight sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "You see..." She commenced our long journey towards an explanation.

Pinkie unexpectedly removed Applejack's hand and began speaking. "You two are from an alternate world and you're a pony prince and princess there and Twilight's crown _actually_ has a magical element embedded in it that helps power up other magical elements, and Alex's crown is just really a memorable treasure and keepsake that his mother, a princess that covers the night and raises the moon, gave to him on their coronation, but without Twilight's crown the magical elements won't work anymore, and you need them all to help protect your magical world, and if you don't get the crown tonight, you'll be stuck in _this_ world and you won't be able to get back for like a really, really long time!" She ended with a wide grin while all the rest of the girls looked at her oddly.

Nevertheless, Twilight, Spike, and I were looking at her with our jaws hung open, unable to believe that she actually knew what was really going on.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that isn't the reason." Rainbow reacted.

"Nope, she's pretty much spot-on." Spike included.

"He can talk!?" Rarity screamed out in surprise, placing her hands on her head frantically.

"Oh yeah!" Spike began walking towards Rarity as the other girls, especially Twilight, returned very stunned looks on their faces. "…and back where I come from, I'm not even a dog! I'm a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon!" He exclaimed out loud, standing only on his back paws. However, he returned to all fours and rather placed a very proud and smug look on his face.

I crossed my arms and looked at Spike with a raised eyebrow. "I'd say that's stretching the truth a little…"

Nevertheless, Fluttershy pushed Pinkie and Rarity out of her way and raced over to Spike, bending over to come face-to-face with him. "This is so amazing! Tell me, what are you thinking right now?"

Spike only looked at Fluttershy questionably, as she answered with a _very_ and perhaps _too_ amused expression. Her smile stretched across her face gleefully as her eyes widened and pupils dilated excitedly. Spike walked over to Rarity and looked at her as he answered Fluttershy's question. "Sure would love a scratch behind the old ears!"

"Gah..." She could only respond with.

"Uh, maybe later…" He looked away, scratching his head with his paw.

"How did you know all that?" Twilight inquired about to Pinkie.

"Just a hunch!" Pinkie shrugged cheerfully.

"Wait a minute!" Applejack stepped in, holding out her hands. "Let me get this straight." She placed one on her forehead and closed her eyes in thought. "You're telling me…that you two…are _ponies_?"

"You're both a…_prince_ and _princess_?" Rarity included, still in her state of shock.

"You're from another world?" Fluttershy finished.

Blushing, Twilight scratched her head and nervously nodded. "Mm-hmm."

I placed a hand in a pocket of my hoodie and slightly looked away. "Yeah…"

"That... is... _AWESOME!_" Rainbow stretched out her arms in positive cheer.

All of the girls immediately circled around us and began excitedly chattering of which I could not clearly hear.

"See?" Spike pointed out. "Told you."

Twilight and I sent a smile back at him until Rarity interrupted, waving her hands. "Wait, wait, wait." She silenced every other body and caught our attention. "Is…that why you two are seeing each other? Because you're a Prince and Princess? Wouldn't that make you…married?"

Twilight and I looked at each other for a moment, exchanging looks that expressed that we should probably come clean about the situation, since they already know what's going on.

"Uh…actually…" I rubbed my head a little. "We're not…really…dating…" I answered, widening Rarity's eyes. "I mean, we're not married. We're just…" I glanced over to Twilight and smiled softly. "…really close friends. We only mentioned that we were, because seeing as we need to become Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal, we'd need to be recognized together."

Rarity gasped and rushed towards me, leaning against my body as she looked up to me and held her hands together. "So does this mean you're available?!"

"Uh…" I hesitated and then slowly glimpsed over to Fluttershy, who held her arms behind her back and slightly looked away. "…not exactly…"

"Whatever do you mean?" She asked, forming almost gloomy eyes.

"Enough with the romance, Rarity." Applejack fortunately intervened, as I wasn't really comfortable explaining my love life. "We gotta help Twilight and Alex get their crowns back!" She looked back at us. "You said that Snips and Snails ruined the gym, so the dance is postponed for tomorrow?" She asked Twilight.

Twilight nodded.

Rainbow placed a fist on her open hand. "Then we have to see what we can do to make the dance back for tonight!"

"But…we have class in a few minutes…!" Fluttershy pointed out in soft exclaim.

Rainbow Dash sighed and thought for a moment. "Okay. Let's meet up after-school at the gym. The dance was supposed to start at eight tonight. So…if we can somehow fix up the gym in an hour or two at most…we might be able to do it!"

"Sounds like a good plan…" Applejack replied. "…I hope."

"Woohoo!" Pinkie screamed out and rushed out the door.

"See you guys there!" Rainbow announced as she walked out the door with Rarity and Applejack behind her.

Fluttershy only looked at us silently for a moment and then began walking back out. Seeing the door closed, I quickly rushed over to it and opened it for her. When she saw my gesture, she quietly gasped and slowly looked up at me. Then, she quickly retracted it with a bashful expression.

"…Thank you…"

"…you're welcome…" I returned softly as I watched her try to catch up with the others.

A hand was placed on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Twilight sigh and look at the other girls walk off back to the school. "I guess we should go back to the library, huh…?"

"Yeah…" I answered, continuing to feel my gaze succumb to Fluttershy. "…I guess so…"

* * *

When Twilight and I were back at the library, I was finding it really hard to wait the whole way until after-school. Spike figured he'd possibly sleep the whole way through, since it was something he usually didn't do, and also because he found books boring. Of course, on the other hoof…I mean hand… Twilight could read books for as long as she wanted to, so she kept herself busy with that.

I rather found myself sitting across from her at the same table. Her face was already buried in a book. I rested my cheek on my hand and tapped my finger on the desk during the wait. I wasn't exactly getting impatient. I mean…the waiting felt long, but at the same time, it felt like something I could handle.

Twilight seemed to take a break, as she lowered the book down away from her eyes. She noticed me staring at the table as I continued to tap my finger.

"Something the matter? Or are you just bored?" She asked.

"I don't know…" I continued my stare at the table, but stopped my tapping.

"Come _on_." She playfully encouraged me. "Is it about Fluttershy again?"

I remained silent for a moment. "I've…just been thinking…"

"You always think." Twilight responded. "If you're not having fun with us, you always seem to be in your own little world. Sometimes, I can't even get your attention for a while."

"I guess I just don't know how to cut loose sometimes. It seems like…there's always something I have to worry about." I returned.

"I guess I know what you mean…" Twilight answered, thought for a moment, and chuckled. "I've been there…a lot…"

"I hope I don't bother you with all this talk from me. I hate it when I annoy others."

"What?" Twilight reacted with an almost disbelief look. "You could never do that. Geez, I'm the one who's always blabbering about stuff you probably don't really even care much of." That statement caused me to smile a little. Twilight hovered her hand over the one I was using to tap my finger and placed it on there. "Just keep it in your mind _and_ heart that I'll always be here if you need someone or can't find anyone else. Just like when you needed somepony to talk to when you were in conflict about your family past. I love you, Alex, and I'm willing to do anything to make you feel better. I mean…I know we're really close friends…but I feel like maybe we're even more than that. Of course, I don't mean getting into the romantic zone, but…not just _friends_… It's like…we're really connected. Not even just brother and sister…but…I don't know. I don't even know if there's a word for what I'm trying to explain."

I placed a little more emotion to my smile and looked at Twilight with understanding eyes. "I don't think you need a word for it… I…I get what you're trying to say… If someone else needs a word and definition to understand this kind of connection or feeling…then I'd say they aren't true to know. In other words, if someone needs a word to describe this, then they probably aren't really feeling it."

Twilight giggled lightly. "Oh, Alex. You and your deep words."

"Psh." I brushed off humbly. "Don't mention it…"

I heard some noises coming nearby, as if we weren't the only ones in the library. I looked past Twilight to notice a smaller girl trying to reach for a book on the shelf. What frightened me was that this girl was standing on a stack of books to reach hers…and it didn't look stable. I excused myself from the table Twilight and I were sitting at and jogged over to this girl.

"Almost…got it…!" She grunted as she finally was able to touch the book she wanted. However, she seemed to pull the book back too hard, making the stack of books shake to the side and have her wave her arms around as she attempted to balance it out. Despite her effort, she began falling, dropping the book to the ground.

The fall obviously wouldn't kill her, but I didn't want her to get hurt at all. Fortunately, I was right behind her to catch her. As soon I saw her face, I smiled warmly.

"Not exactly the safe way to reach for a book…" I joked.

"Oh." She noticed me as she looked back. "Thanks."

I straightened her out on the floor and placed my hands on her shoulders, kneeling on the floor and making sure she was fine. "Are you fine? Did you hurt yourself?"

She giggled. "I'm fine. You don't need to overreact like if you were my dad."

I looked up to her and smiled. I pushed myself back and continued looking down at her. Even here, she was still adorable. "Just making sure…"

"Hey…" she brought up, looking at me closely. "Haven't I seen you around before?" She asked.

"Well…" I thought back, remembering all the times we had encountered each other. "I'm pretty sure…" I held a hand to the back of my head.

"Alex, right?" She questioned, leading me to nod. "I figured. My sister never stops talking about you. And I find it _really_ weird because she usually has such high standards for a guy!"

"Huh…really…?" I merely responded with, making the connection back home.

"Anyways, I'm Sweetie Belle!" She looked down at the floor at the book she dropped.

I noticed it and quickly gasped. "Oh!" I bent down and picked it up, giving it to her after.

"Thanks!" She gleefully expressed. "I guess I can see why she really likes you. Then again…it might be because of your 'charming looks' she talks about." I merely looked away and blushed slightly. "Anyway," She held up a piece of paper in her other hand. "I better get going. I don't want my teacher to think I'm skipping her boring reading in class." Before she went off ahead, she looked at me and asked another question. "Hey, you're going to the Fall Formal, right?"

"Oh…yeah." I answered.

"Right…!" Sweetie Belle widened her eyes in realization. "You're the guy running for Prince of the Fall Formal! Along with that other girl Twilight Sparkle?"

"Mm-hm." I returned.

"Yeah! Now I know!" She exclaimed. "I'll be sure to vote for you both! I've never been to the Fall Formal before, since this my first year in high school, but I can already tell Sunset Shimmer is a jerk when I've seen her in the hallways." Sweetie Belle appeared as if she wanted to continue talking, but she widened her eyes once again. "Oh! Sorry! I really need to go!" She held on to her book and began rushing out. "Bye!"

I waved slightly and released the word softly. "Bye…"

I turned back and returned to my seat at the table Twilight was in.

"So…how was it talking with Sweetie Belle?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the book.

"It still makes me feel a little more homesick…now to when we get back, as soon as I see her, I want to give her the biggest hug ever…"

Twilight closed the book and placed it on the table. She rested her chin on her hand and continued looking at me with a tilted head, which actually looked pretty cute.

"I have a feeling you're going to hug every single one of the girls when we get back…" She responded with a warm smile.

I chuckled a little. "You're probably right."

* * *

We, along with Spike, arrived at the gym a little earlier before the school day had officially ended, which was the reason for the empty hallways. The doors were closed, but I knew the look inside wouldn't be pretty.

"Well…here we are…" Twilight mentioned.

"To be postponed until tomorrow…it must not be pretty." I answered.

Twilight only kept silent as she looked over to the doors, holding her left arm with her right hand.

A few seconds later, the school bell rang. Immediately after, doors flew open and the hallways were flooded with students. It was a moment before the girls, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, came into the picture and appeared from the crowd. It seems that they had hurried towards us.

"Oh! You guys are already here. Cool." Rainbow spoke.

"They don't have class, remember?" Applejack returned softly. "Considering their situation."

"Right…" Rainbow turned her attention towards the door. "Well…let's see the damage."

"I'll go ahead and take the first hit…" I offered and walked towards the doors. I placed my hands on them both and pushed them open. I remained silent, only noticing a part of it until I walked in and observed all around me to notice the actual damage.

Twilight followed me and stopped by my side, leading the other girls to join us. We all only stared in shock and negative awe as we looked all around. Banners were ripped. Chairs were thrown. Tables were broke in half. Even that huge disco ball on the ceiling was broken into pieces. This was throughout the whole gym…

Rarity released a small gasp. "I simply cannot believe they did all this."

"If I only had some kind of _party_ cannon that could decorate everything super fast!" Pinkie commented, causing me to remember Pinkie back home.

I sighed lightly, crouching down to touch shattered pieces from different broken things. "I'm not so sure we can even get this place cleaned up in time…"

Twilight's hand grabbed mine and pulled me back up to stand next to her. "I know it seems impossible…" She mentioned, looking at me for a moment before she turned towards the others. "…but, maybe if we all work together…?"

"Yeah…" I pitched in, smiling as I now felt her comfort and company. "We can do this… We can fix this…together…"

This caused the others to form smiles, despite the horrid surroundings around us. Applejack nodded confidently, ready for action. "Now that's the kind of can-do spirit I'm lookin' for in a Fall Formal prince and princess! Let's do it, y'all!" She exclaimed, holding out her hand for the others to see.

"Absolutely!" Rarity firmly placed her hand on Applejack's.

"Rock on!" Rainbow Dash boldly followed.

"Yes, indeedily!" Pinkie cheerfully added.

"Yaaaaay!" Fluttershy ended so adorably, causing me to form a warm and sincere smile.

They all looked at us, waiting for our confirmation. Twilight and I looked at each other. She slowly lifted up her hand and then placed it on mine. Instead of willingly placing my hand on the other girls' alone, she rather moved both herself and me forward, placing the both of our hands in the group together at the same time.

After, each of us threw our hands towards the sky, each of the girls forming different positive and cheerful expressions while I slipped out a soft yet happy grin.

Twilight and I found a supply closet in the back of the gym. Inside the heavily darkened room, with what little light the outside gave us, we were able to see seven sweeping brooms held up inside a can. I grabbed four while Twilight retrieved three. Spike, even adorably as well, managed to fill up an empty bucket with water and carry it with both his front paws, walking on his two back ones. When we saw the other girls waiting for us outside, I threw one broom over to Rainbow Dash, who caught it and twirled it around. I then threw another one over to Applejack and finally Rarity, who was slightly disgusted and formed a repulsive look on her face. I kept the last one for myself. Twilight took the initiative and threw the rest of the brooms to the others. Pinkie Pie, with a wide grin, jumped up and caught it excitedly. However, I noticed Fluttershy wasn't exactly prepared to receive the broom. She was too busy looking at the others catch their own brooms as she held a hand to her left arm. She moved her eyes left and noticed Twilight throwing her a broom of her own. Instead, she returned a surprised look and turned to flinch. I quickly stepped in and wrapped my arms around Fluttershy, covering her and having the broom hit me instead of her.

I pulled back my head to look at her. She had noticed that something was different. She turned her head back and noticed me right in front of her, actually holding her delicate body. I couldn't help but only send her a tender smile. Her face immediately flushed with redness, but I was really happy to see her smiling bashfully nonetheless, rather than frowning with fear.

Afterwards, we immediately began sweeping the entire gym floor. Pinkie Pie bounced excitedly, seeming to have lots of fun with us in our task. On the contrary, Rarity was sweeping…but she placed herself as far away from the broom as possible, flinching back with clenched teeth. All while Spike was hopping after her, looking love-struck as usual. As each pair of the girls brought their trash together in a straight line, I cut in the middle and swept the cluttered mess forward, shooting it towards a trash bag Spike managed to hold open.

Once we filled the bag up, I quickly tied it up, picked it up, and tossed it over to Applejack. She caught it with both her arms underneath. She turned to her left and tossed it over to Fluttershy, who seemed to have trouble holding it, so she passed it on to Rarity, who, in a split-second, grabbed the top with her hand and tossed it over to Rainbow Dash in a disgusted and fearful manner, who then took a few seconds to aim and shoot it over to the trash can Pinkie was holding.

Next, I was fixing stuff, like banners, on the walls while also picking up the chairs that were thrown on the floor. Behind me, someone had bumped into me. I turned around and noticed Twilight attempting to drag a broken table all by herself, which she was clearly having trouble with. I smirked slightly and crossed my arms. "Need some help?" I asked, half-jokingly and half serious.

Twilight looked back and noticed me as she panted a little. "I would really appreciate it…" She responded, smiling a bit.

I sent back a smile as well and walked around to the other side. I grabbed the end of the table and picked it up. Then, I looked towards Twilight and nodded, commencing our slow walk out of the gym. I noticed two other athletic guys peek in and notice the restoration we were doing. They began walking in past us, looking around and seeming to be willing to help. However, to my surprise, I spotted Applejack walking past us, carrying an _entire_ table by herself like nothing! I was not the only one who was astounded and impressed by her strength, even though I knew the strength she held back home. The two other athletic guys that came in were holding their jaws wide open while Twilight could only giggle at our reactions. Behind us, Pinkie Pie was finishing up on the floor, but instead of using the broom, she used her hair instead. When she lifted up her head, she giggled as a bunch of the mess from the floor was stuck and caught in her hair.

Once we finally finished removing the broken items out of the gym and into the trash, we walked in to see Rarity and Fluttershy throwing streamers across the ceiling. They caught hold onto the support beams and remained on there. Rarity and Fluttershy hopped past each other and slapped hands, throwing the remainder of their streamers. A group of girls outside noticed this and walked in, seeing our efforts. To our fortune, they began helping us as well, allowing us to get this done much quicker. As they worked on the streamers, we were allowed to set up new tables and began decorating them.

Excitedly, more and more students from the school had passed by the gym and joined in our project to fix everything up for the dance. Even one of those, if I remember correctly, eco kids caught a streamer that flew upwards. The girls that helped with the streamers joined him and seemed to actually get along with him, rather than stay in their own separate groups. By them, one athletic guy and "techy" girl both carried a large speaker towards the stage. Another one of them was attempting to set up a light at the top of the stage using a ladder. However, I lightly panicked when I saw the ladder begin to wobble greatly. I was already beginning to rush over to help him, but someone had beaten me to it. It was another one of the athletic students, once again, breaking the separation between them. He held the ladder down with his hands and foot, sending a thumb up to him.

I honestly felt so touched and…happy… Never before had I seen so much friendship at a school. Back at my school in Fillydelphia…it wasn't as friendly like this. If it wasn't the situation where everypony was against me, it was where some kids may have been against one another when I wasn't there to be their punching bag. If only it was like this back when I was going to school…

Twilight walked to my side and noticed the work produced together as well. As I held a more sympathetic face, she rather looked slightly more smug and proud, in a good way.

Seeing a girl walk out of the gym with a trash bag, one of the guys mop the floor, and another setting up a table with a bowl and a pitcher of punch, I decided to take over when he was called over by someone else for some help. As I looked at the punch bowl, I stretched my hand over to the pitcher in order to pour in the punch with ice cubes. However, when I placed my hand on the handle, another delicate one was placed on top of mine. I was slightly startled, and looked to see who it was. As soon as I turned, I spotted Fluttershy and her eyes locked onto mine for a moment. Immediately after, she pulled back her hand from embarrassment and turned to the side, wanting to hide her face. Feeling my heart flutter itself, I couldn't help but grab her hand nonetheless and pull it back to me. She slowly looked back to see me gazing at her intently, blush beginning to form in her cheeks and spread towards the middle of her face. I began to slowly move forward to her with no exchange of words. My heart was taking over. I was even excited inside when I saw her shyly performing the same action. I slowly closed my eyes, wanting to press my lips against hers. Just as I felt we were about to finally come together, we both heard a clearing of a throat.

We opened her eyes and looked to the side to see Twilight standing there with her arms crossed. She was looking at us with a playful and friendly smirk. Fluttershy took back her hand and quickly looked away embarrassingly as I could only rub the back of my head with my hand and reveal a bit of bashfulness as well.

Before we knew it, there was an insanely amount of students helping us out in the gym and placing on the final touches. Twilight and I were standing in the middle of the prepared stage. The girls had come by with Applejack placing a hand on my right shoulder, and Pinkie placing her hand on Twilight's left shoulder. All of us then outstretched our arms, placing them around each other in a horizontal line and unison, leaving me between Twilight and Applejack.

All of us looked at the amazing accomplishment we all achieved together. It was outstanding. The time to get all this done didn't even feel long or wasted. We were all able to do this by working and getting the other students together!

"This... looks... sooooo... GOOD!" Pinkie screamed out loud in joy.

A clapping sounded and echoed from the doors of the gym, silencing everyone. It was Celestia by Luna, who was holding a big box with a hole on top. "All right, everyone! Fall Formal is back on for this evening." This led to every single student in the gym releasing a huge loud roar of cheer. "So you'd better get out of here and start getting ready." This then led the students to excitedly talk and walk out, holding up pieces of paper or dropping them in the box when they passed Luna. "Don't forget to cast your ballots for the Fall Formal Princess on your way out!" Celestia reminded.

"You got my vote, you two!" A boy told us as he walked out.

"Mine too!" A girl added as well.

"Mine too!" Another followed.

"Mine too!" Yet another continued.

"This is great!" I exclaimed. "We've totally got this!" I turned around to face the others. "And it's thanks to all of you…"

The girls revealed expressions as if they were all ready to form a group hug until Rarity intervened.

"Hugs can wait until later, girls! We must prepare for this dance immediately!" She held out a finger pointed outside. "To my favorite shop!"

* * *

The girls and I had ran/jogged out of the gym and school, but once we were on the sidewalk, closing in on the store, I felt an arm slip around my own and lightly pull me back behind the girls. I looked back to notice it was Rarity. She had pulled me away far enough from the girls, but continued walking with me.

"Ahem…" She cleared her throat, placing a fist in front of her mouth. "I was um…since you're not actually dating Twilight…um…I was wondering…if you would be able to attend the Fall Formal with…moi." She chuckled a little nervously as she twirled the strands of her hair around.

"Oh…um…" I didn't really know what to say, but somehow, the truth was able to save me soothingly anyway. "I would…but…I kind of need to go to the dance with Twilight…since we're running for Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal…you know…"

"Oh. Ahem. Um. Of course…" She returned, looking a little saddened by the news. "I don't suppose…you could at least…have…one dance…with me?"

I managed to return a soft smile at her, seeing that request okay. "Sure. That sounds fine."

Rarity squealed for a moment and embraced me tightly with closed eyes. However, when she opened them and noticed what she had done, she pulled away a little embarrassingly and slightly looked away. "Hm. My apologies…"

I continued smiling; not feeling bothered by her actions at all. "Don't worry about it." I wrapped an arm around her and brought her a little closer, which she seemed to completely adore and even blush a little as a result.

* * *

"I still can't believe we pulled that off!" Fluttershy exclaimed softly as we walked in the store.

"I can! We're awesome!" Rainbow returned boldly.

"Enough chatter." Rarity took the lead in front of them and eyed us seriously. "We need to get ready…" She pulled out a cart full of dresses and presented them. "…and we need to look fabulous!" She threw a group towards the girls. Before heading off to begin dressing herself, she stopped by me. "Don't worry... I have something _just_ for you…" She tapped the tip of my nose with her finger.

I chuckled softly. "You always do…"

* * *

As the girls began looking for dresses and trying them on in the dressing rooms, I only watched and waited for the outfit Rarity promised…just like old times…

However, Fluttershy specifically caught my attention. I couldn't stop gazing at her when she was looking in the mirror at this dress she thought was beautiful, as I could see it in her eyes. However, Pinkie on the left side was trying out multiple dresses, flashing in and out of the dressing room with a new one. Each one matched her, as they carried the depictions of balloons or something just bright and crazy, in a good way. Rarity was messing with Rainbow's outfit for the dance, giving her some…I believe what she'd call…froo frooey…depiction. Rainbow had clearly had negative feedback for this dress, presenting irritated narrowed eyes. Rarity noticed this, grinned and shrugged nervously, and then pushed her off to make some drastic changes.

Applejack presented herself with a long plain dress that reached her feet. With those familiar signature red glasses, Rarity tapped her chin in thought, later retrieving an idea. She quickly knelt over to Applejack and began working with the hem of the dress, bringing it up to her knees. Applejack returned the almost same expression Rainbow had had. Pinkie then revealed herself in the mirror trying out different wacky hairdos which would seem fit. It wasn't until she had drenched her hair in water, blew a strand boringly, and left it to inflate back out, which she was completely content with.

But at a vanity table, Fluttershy's animal friends, a bird and a bunny who I assumed to be Angel here, helped brush the right side of her hair while she brushed the left. However, Spike was tending to his own appearance on the mirror close by. He analyzed several fake mustaches on his face and switched to see which would fit better, leading me to chuckle lightly.

Rarity then worked on her hands, seeming to place on similar application the spa ponies would use for hooves, only it was on the tip of her fingers. She winked at their finished reflection. After that, she finished with mascara, blush, and lipstick.

Rarity left the girls for a bit to freshen up. Pinkie was spraying a bottle of perfume in front of her face. Twilight was helping Rainbow with her hair, which she appeared to be a bit worried about. Applejack was fixing her hat while Fluttershy took a turn at the mascara. Rarity came back with a chest. She opened it to reveal a large amount of jewelry for the girls. They returned excitedly surprised expressions due to the shiny presence of them.

This led to Pinkie placing on balloon earrings on her ear, Rarity attaching a diamond necklace around her neck, and the rest of the girls to finalize their dresses. After looking at all of them present themselves by their personalities, I couldn't help by stare in awe at their beauty…especially Fluttershy…

However, as Twilight clapped excitedly for them, my gaze was cut short when Rarity pushed Twilight and me into a dressing room with our formal attire: a tuxedo for me and a dress for Twilight. Once we placed our outfits on, we opened the curtain and presented ourselves. Twilight looked just amazingly beautiful herself. In front of us, the girls could only stare at our appearances and walk towards us to excitedly talk by us.

Allowing the girls to be girls, I watched as they talked quickly and anxiously towards one another with a smile.

"Oh, you two look so fabulous!" Rarity exclaimed, but seemed to pay attention more to me.

"So, how are we getting to the dance?" Twilight asked. "Are we walking?"

"Pssh!" Rarity flipped her hand. "Of course not! I called in a limo."

"A limo…?" Twilight questioned, as we really never heard of such a thing before…I believe…

There was a honking noise that sounded from outside.

"It's here!" Rarity exclaimed. "Come on! Come on!" She excitedly waved her hand for us to follow her outside. Making sure I still had my backpack with me, I followed them outside, where we encountered this very long and strange vehicle… Rarity walked towards a door and opened it. Inside, there was a large area in length with seats to the sides. "Well, go on!" She encouraged us.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack sat on the seats to the right side of the door while Twilight and I decided to sit on the left side. Seeing as the seat to my right was free, Rarity quickly beamed and got in, closing the door and sitting by me very closely. As soon as the vehicle seemed to be moving, hence the moving scenery outside, Rarity appeared to take the liberty of wrapping her arm around mine and resting her head on my shoulder.

"Wow…" Twilight whispered to me. "Here, Rarity really seems attracted to you…"

"Heh…" I chuckled a little nervously. "Yeah…"

I personally wouldn't really have minded Rarity doing this, but in this situation, I began feeling bad. I looked at Fluttershy, who seemed to look away slightly or turn her head towards the window to pay attention outside. Fluttershy seemed to…actually…like me here too, but seeing Rarity kind of always hold on to me like if she had dibs on me, it seemed to…put her down a little. I didn't want to be mean to Rarity and stop her from expressing her interest in me…but I didn't want Fluttershy to feel bad about this either… Maybe I can dance with her at the Fall Formal thing…I really want to anyway…

"Hey, Rarity…I just realized something." Applejack spoke up. "Why'd you get a limo if the school's right there?" She pointed out the window, where the school was clearly visible. But being in this long vehicle, we had to go around the front where the area was big enough for the vehicle to stop.

Rarity gasped. "And risk one drop of sweat on our fabulous dresses? I think not!"

"And what about your sister, Sweetie Belle?" Applejack included.

"My parents are taking her and her friends, no biggie."

"Uh-huh…" Applejack seemed to react as if she thought the limo was really unnecessary, but waved it off as it did suit her character.

* * *

It really didn't take long to get the school, considering it was only like right across the street the dress shop was in. But hey…this "limo" did seem to be really comfy and nice. I looked out the window to see the full moon, which heavily reminded me of my mother. I kept my sigh to myself and waited patiently to reach our designated spot as Rarity continued to keep her arm around mine.

The vehicle soon came to a stop, allowing Pinkie to open the door and for the rest of the girls to sit up and exit. Rarity brought me along as she continued holding me. Twilight followed behind. As Rarity looked around in soft excitement and awe, I realized it was time to notify her of the escort.

"Uh, Rarity…" I spoke.

"Yes?" She turned around to look at me.

"Sorry…but I have to escort Twilight now…since she's my…you know…"

"Oh. Yes…of course." She gently removed her arm around mine. "Well…thank you for allowing me on the ride over here…"

"Yeah, of course…" We were silent for a moment. "Don't worry." I assured. "We'll still have that dance."

This caused her to remove the slight embarrassment from her face and form a short smile. "Thank you." Afterwards, she turned around and walked towards the area of the dance while still looking at me for a bit. Then, she turned her head back.

"Well." I turned to Twilight and offered my arm. "Shall we go then?"

Twilight giggled at my gesture and accepted it. "Sure." She now placed her arm around mine and we began walking up the steps towards the school entrance and towards the dance.

We heard the sounds of music even before we got inside the actual dance. It was very…upbeat and energy-inducing. As the music entered into my body, I already felt like I wanted to dance… When we entered, we saw a crowd of people everywhere. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were even in their own group, dancing along with the music. We tried to look around for the others, but fortunately Rainbow had found us.

"Over here!" She yelled out for us to be able to hear. She grabbed our arms and led us through the groups surrounding, eventually taking us to the rest of the girls, who were all dancing in their own cute way. Spike was there too, as he must have gone on ahead of us. Afterwards, Rainbow Dash let go of us and joined in with their dancing.

Never actually dancing before in our new bodies, Twilight and I looked at the others and tried to match the use of our new body parts with our old pony selves. After some time of attempting to keep up with the others, Twilight looked around suspiciously. "Anybody see Sunset Shimmer?" She asked.

"Maybe she was too embarrassed to show!" Rainbow answered. "She's gotta know you two won by a landslide!"

"Maybe..." Twilight returned with a hint of doubt.

Nonetheless, the current song soon ended and Celestia walked onto the front of the stage, catching all of our attention.

"Now…before I start announcing the Prince and Princess of the Fall Formal, there's a couple of things I want to do… First off, I want to say how wonderful everything looks tonight. You all did a magnificent job pulling things together after the _unfortunate_ events of earlier. Second, I'd like to have our traditional _slow_ dance for our couples out there. You deserve it, especially after the hard work and coming together to bring the dance back on tonight. Enjoy!" She left the stage.

We looked up to see the lights altered to where it was dim…and seemingly…more romantic…

Twilight and I noticed the others walking off out of the dance floor.

"Hey! Where are you girls going?" Twilight asked.

"It's the slow dancing! You know…for the couples?" Rainbow Dash answered to a slightly puzzled Twilight.

"Which means _you_ two have to dance together, since y'all are running for Prince and Princess!" Applejack made clear.

"Uh…" Twilight held a hand out as they continued to leave us.

Twilight and I looked around to see the others, who had dates, begin to get together more intimately to dance. Twilight slowly turned towards me, rubbing her hand on her arm. "Um…I don't know how to…'slow' dance…"

I smiled lightly, immediately gaining memories of Fluttershy and me back after the Grand Galloping Gala. "Fluttershy taught me…I can help you." I grabbed her left arm and placed her hand on my right shoulder. Then, I positioned my right hand on the right side of her waist. Finally, I grabbed her right hand with my left and held it up. I could tell she was really completely new at this, and perhaps she felt even a little embarrassed, in a good way. "Of course, it's like dancing…you just move…slower…" I chuckled a little.

She chuckled a little as well, but in a more nervous manner. "Okay…"

I took the lead and guided her in her steps. She seemed to handle it pretty well, considering it was her first time. We danced softly for a while until Twilight noticed something about the other couples, causing her to retract her hands and place them around my body through under my arms. This surprised me as she rested her head on my chest, close to me like if she was hugging me. I looked at the others around us and noticed that they were all doing this, which was why Twilight repeated their action. I slowly lowered my hands and placed them back on the sides of her waist.

This dance was nice, but I still couldn't help but feel more homesick. This reminded me of Fluttershy… Thinking about her, it led me to slowly search the crowd that wasn't dancing. Rainbow Dash and the others were there, talking happily and even sharing a few glances at us. But my eye was drawn to Fluttershy. She wasn't conversing like the others. Instead, she sat down and looked a bit gloomily at the floor and then around her. She looked alone…and I really wanted to change that…

"How are you doing?" Twilight asked, surprising me. She looked up to see me.

"Oh…um…" I was too focused on the thought of Fluttershy to come up with anything to say.

"You're not uncomfortable with this, are you?" She questioned, forming a concerned expression.

"What? Of course not… It's just…" I paused and then glanced over to Fluttershy.

Twilight noticed this and turned her head to Fluttershy. "Ah. Why don't you go dance with her then? I'm sure she'd love that."

"But…what about…"

"Don't worry about it." Twilight responded with a smile. "Go ahead and dance with her."

I managed to form a smile at her offer and then wrapped my arms around her waist and back, slowly tightening the grip.

"You're the best…" I whispered to her.

Twilight lightly blushed. "Just go make her happy…"

We lightly pulled away to see each other for a moment. Then, I began making my way towards Fluttershy while Twilight headed towards the others. She was staring at the floor when I reached her. Beginning to feel nervous again, I sucked it in and knelt before her, allowing myself to see her eye to eye. She was startled when she saw me as she gasped loudly.

I held out a hand towards her and smiled warmly. "Wanna dance?"

"But…" She responded very softly. "Aren't you…with Twilight…?"

"It's fine…" I returned assuringly. "She's with the others. You look like you could use someone to dance with…"

"Um…" She rubbed her hands together very timidly. "I…I don't know… I'm not sure…"

I grabbed and held on to one of her hands. "Come on. I _know_ you can dance. You don't need to be afraid…"

"Um…" She began blooming with redness in her face. She looked around a little worried, but then back at me tenderly. "O…Okay…"

Feeling very content with her response, I gently pulled her up and brought her to the dance floor with me. Once we had our own little spot, I waited for her to position herself first, but she rather stared at the floor, unable to look back at me.

"Come on…" I encouraged. "Don't be shy… It's fine… It's all okay…" She lifted her eyes towards me, keeping her continuous flushed expression. "Here…" I offered. "I'll start…don't be startled…" I slowly placed my hands around her waist, surprising her and causing her to gasp as I brought her closer. "It's okay…" I soothed. She winced a little, but she was able to accept my action by slowly and somewhat hesitantly wrapping her arms around me to initiate our slow dance. "Relax…" I shared as I held her close. I shut my eyes and allowed my heart to take the lead on this dance.

I only focused on us. I imagined as if we were the only ones inside, creating the artificial loneliness as if we were reliving our first dance after the disaster at the Grand Galloping Gala. Fortunately, Fluttershy revealed no real signs of discomfort. She may have been a little tense here and there, but after a moment…she grew used to it…and I was glad.

As I embraced every second of it, the song eventually had to come to an end. Once we reached that point, we slowly pulled away and looked each other softly for a moment. However, our moment was slightly interrupted when Celestia came back on the stage.

Twilight and the others came running to Fluttershy and me once they noticed Celestia.

"Here it comes!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I hope you've all had fun." Celestia announced. "Don't worry, there'll be _a lot_ more dancing after this, but right now, I'd like to finally begin the event everyone has been waiting for. And now…without further ado…" She looked over to the side, where Luna was carrying a chest. "I'd like to announce the winners of this year's Fall Formal crowns." Luna opened the chest revealing the two shiny objects inside that we had longed for. Upon seeing especially mine, I was anxious and eager to retrieve it as soon as possible, my heart joining in for the occasion. As Luna stood by her sister, she also handed her a closed letter. Celestia began opening the letter. "The Princess and Prince of this year's Fall Formal are…" The girls behind Twilight and I were struggling to hold in their excitement, except Fluttershy, who contained more of a worried face. Twilight held Spike with his top hat and bow tie in her right arm as she grabbed my hand with her left keenly. Celestia removed the slip from the letter and brought it to her eyes. "Alex and Twilight Sparkle!" She exclaimed.

The girls behind us immediately cheered loudly as Twilight quickly embraced me tightly, almost suffocating Spike, who poked his head out of the joining. I would have been stupid if I didn't grin happily in both relief and comfort.

"Go on!" Spike told us. "Go finally get your crowns back!"

Twilight nodded and gently placed him on the floor, where he continued to hop excitedly for us.

Continuing to hold each other's hand, Twilight and I walked on towards the stage to be awarded our crowns. Celestia retrieved Twilight's crown. Luna then placed the chest down and grabbed mine. I was extremely content to be standing before her by Twilight's side…just like the coronation…

"Congratulations, you two…" Celestia expressed softly, placing the crown on Twilight's head as Luna placed my crown on mine.

Memories of dates not too long ago instantly came back. Twilight and I stood at the center of the stage, smiling and waving at the audience before us. Although, they weren't as immense as the crowds back at the coronation.

Before we could put our fears to rest and finally be prepared to return back home with our crowns, we heard a sudden cry for help.

"Twilight! Alex! HEEEEELP!"

"Spike?!" Twilight quickly looked around. We turned our attention towards the gym doors, noticing those two troublesome boys once again. Snip and Snails were kidnapping Spike as he attempted to fend them off but unfortunately failed from his small size. "They've got Spike!" Twilight yelled out and jumped off the stage and ran after them with me quickly following behind her.

We sprinted towards the hallways, seeing the boys make a sharp turn to the left. Twilight attempted to make this turn, but slid instead towards the lockers. However, I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her away from doing so. We noticed the rest of the girls right behind us to support us.

"Come on!" I notified Twilight.

She nodded and we hastily resumed our chase. The two ran past Trixie, who was busy retrieving another snack from the machine but stopped to notice the scene. We followed them, passing by Trixie. However, I accidentally collided my shoulder with hers, having me to stop really quickly and apologize before I pressed on and caught up.

We made a couple more sharp turns until they led us towards the front of the school, where they then headed straight for the mirror; our only way back to Equestria tonight. Before we could finally catch them, another pair of feet emerged out from behind the statue holding the portal.

"That's close enough!" Sunset Shimmer exclaimed, holding a gigantic sledgehammer against the mirror, immediately stopping us.

We stared at each other for a moment in silence until Spike cried out for help again.

"Twilight! Alex!" He snout was forcibly closed when Snails held it shut.

"Don't hurt him!" Twilight ordered fiercely.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. I'm not a monster, Twilight." She responded and looked towards her assistants. "Let him go." Snips and Snails looked at each other confusingly for a moment, but released Spike nonetheless. Spike quickly ran towards Twilight, who immediately held him in her arms. "You two don't belong here. I'll make it easy for you two. All I need is one crown. Give it to me, and you all can go back to Equestria tonight. Or keep it, and _never_ go home." She raised the sledgehammer aggressively and looked towards the mirror.

"What…?!" I exclaimed softly, wondering about the change of her plans until I realized someone was missing from her group. "Where's Starlight!?" I demanded.

"Oh, her? Psh." Sunset Shimmer shrugged off. "I should have never trusted her to begin with. I can't believe I actually thought she would prove to be useful when she's really such a weak backstabbing fool at heart! But no matter." She eyed me as she continued readily holding up the hammer. "It's not like she made any difference anyway. She may have slowed down my plans a bit, but she didn't stop them."

"Huh…?" I questioned, not exactly sure what she meant.

"So…what's it going to be? We don't have all night." She tapped her fingers on the handle of the sledge hammer.

Twilight and I looked at each other for a moment in silence. I turned back and stared at the floor. Twilight couldn't give hers. Hers was actually a part of the elements. Mine… I placed my hands on my crown and brought it to my sight. Mine is not… Even though it means a lot to me…my friends…they're more important to have than objects that only remind you of past events…

"Take mine…" I released holding out my crown.

"Alex…" Twilight whispered softly.

"If you let us go back…you can have it…" I included.

Sunset Shimmer smirked. "Smart boy. Toss it over here." She held a hand out.

I silently sighed through my nose and tossed it, looking away in despair.

She caught it and gazed at its glory and power she believe she would receive while keeping the sledgehammer by her feet.

"Now let us go home!" I demanded.

"Hold your horses…" She returned, smiling defiantly. "There's still plenty of time left…" She raised the crown towards her head and gently placed it on her. She grinned widely, expecting something huge, but there was only silence. She looked around, slowly beginning to realize her mistake. "What…? Nothing's happening…!" She grabbed the crown forcefully with her hand and glared at it angrily. "This is a piece of junk! You lied to me!"

"I didn't lie!" I answered boldly. "I told you that my crown held no power! And you were too conceited to believe it! You're the idiot here!"

"Why you…" She formed a growl that started soft but quickly ascended roughly. She threw the crown towards the floor and raised her sledgehammer above it.

"NO!" I cried out, running towards her to try to stop her.

But our disadvantage in distance made her successful. The sledgehammer flashed downwards to the crown before my very eyes. Before I was able to stop her…the crown was shattered into a million pieces. I froze in front of her in shock. My knees grew weak, leading me to fall on them as I could only stare at what used to be my crown. My hands shook as I slowly hovered them above the pieces, touching them delicately and realizing my gift from my mother was gone…

Twilight gasped as she witnessed this scene.

"Tick-tock, Twilight, we haven't got all night." Sunset continued, pressuring her and moving on to her crown. "The portal will be closing on its own in less than an hour." She turned her head towards the moon, emphasizing the limited time. "So, what's your answer?"

Twilight looked at the girls behind her. Then, she removed her crown off in thought. "No." She answered.

"What!?" Sunset Shimmer exclaimed. "Equestria. Your friends. Lost to you forever." She emphasized as she pointed towards the mirror. "Don't you see what I'm about to do to the portal?"

"Yes, but I've also seen what you've been able to do here without magic." She released Spike, who boldly landed on his planted paws. "Equestria will find a way to survive without our Elements of Harmony. This place might not, if we allow it to fall into your hands. So go ahead, destroy the portal. You are _not_ getting this crown!" Twilight fiercely placed her crown back on her head.

Sunset Shimmer was silent for a moment. "Fine. You win…" She allowed the sledgehammer to fall in front of me. It landed harshly on the broken pieces of my crown once again.

Twilight handed her crown over to Spike to hold while she approached me. She stretched out her hand, grabbed mine, and pulled me up. "Come on…" She began walking me away from the scene and back to our friends. "I know I made a tough decision…especially for you…since…we wouldn't be able to see our friends back home again but…you know it was for the best…right…?"

"Yeah…I know…" I returned as I continued staring at the ground.

"I'm sorry about your crown…" Twilight apologized softly.

"It's… It's fine…"

Despite our mood, the girls began to congratulate us when we returned. "You guys... are... so awesome!" Rainbow squealed out at the both of us.

"I can't believe you two were willing to sacrifice so much for us!" Applejack added.

"I know it was a lot…" Twilight answered. "But…" She looked towards me and smiled lightly. "I knew we'd at least have each other…" She embraced me passionately. I was still down about what happened to my crown, but the warmth of her heart allowed me to share a small smile with her as well.

"It's no wonder you two are a real live prince and princess!" Rarity added into their excitement.

We heard Sunset Shimmer scoff and exclaim behind us. "Yes, they're so very special!" She yelled out sarcastically. Immediately after, she ran towards Twilight, aiming for her crown. Instead, they were both taken to the floor with Sunset Shimmer unable to grasp the crown that flew off her head.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed and immediately reached for Sunset Shimmer. "Get off of her!" I shouted and forcefully pulled her off. I knelt by Twilight and placed a hand on her. "Are you okay?"

She turned and noticed the crown freely flying away, which Sunset Shimmer was heading after. "The crown! Don't let her get it!"

It rolled past Spike, who took action to quickly seize it with his mouth.

"Grab him, you fools!" Sunset Shimmer yelled towards Snips and Snails to assist her.

They began running after him, leading me to quickly get on my feet and run towards Spike. Spike was surprised to see them right behind him. I sprinted and cut through the both of them, holding out my arms and picking up Spike off the ground. I had no place to run but towards the school doors. Sunset Shimmer had also cut between the two boys, but pushed them aggressively out of the way. I ran up the steps and tried opening one of the doors, but it wouldn't budge. It must have been locked!

I turned to see Sunset Shimmer creeping towards me, with the two of her assistants beginning to surround me. Spike began whimpering as we were slowly being closed in.

"Alex! Alex!" I heard Rainbow, seeing her past Sunset Shimmer with her arms waving around in the air. I retrieved the crown from Spike's mouth and threw it over to Rainbow. She jumped into the air, expertly caught it, and flipped frontward in the air. However, Snips had ran towards her and tried to snatch it away. Rainbow pulled it away, leaving him to fall on the floor. Snails then took his turn, but Rainbow merely smacked a hand to his face and prevented him from moving any forward. "Fluttershy!" She tossed it over to Fluttershy, who was completely unexpected of retrieving it.

I gasped, knowing how fragile Fluttershy was. I quickly placed Spike down on the floor and raced towards her, seeing Sunset Shimmer and her pets already storming at her. Reaching her seconds before the others, I wrapped my arms around her, protecting her from the attackers. During so, I managed to grab the crown from her hands and throw it blindly over my head. "Catch!"

Pinkie Pie hopped into the air, handing it to Applejack, who then tossed it to Rarity. Rarity, seeing Snips run after her, quickly pitched it to Twilight. Twilight caught it with both her hands, but was startled when she saw Snips and Snails try to reach for it. She accidentally threw it backwards with no one behind to catch… None other than Sunset Shimmer…

"I'll take that!" She exclaimed, firmly clutching the crown. She laughed evilly and even a bit manically. "At last…" She spoke softly to herself, leaving Spike to growl furiously. "…more power than I could ever imagine." She placed the crown on her head, but as soon as she did, something odd and terrible happened. A strange aura surrounded her and soon exploded into a ray of strange light with her inside.

Every one of us had to shield our eyes as the light was too intense. I managed to turn my head slightly around to view somewhat of what was occurring. This brought the attention of the students inside. They opened the door and looked at what was going on. Sunset Shimmer was now far above us in the sky, and I could absolutely not explain what in the world was occurring before us. Something emerged from her crown…some kind of darkness… Her eyes were forced wide open with only white being seen inside. It was somewhat like how Twilight appeared when she used her element, only this version was more negative and distorted. Suddenly, her whole body transformed and turned horridly. A huge bright light exploded in front of us, blinding us for a second until we were able to see the aftermath of this transformation.

Sunset Shimmer…she was…some kind of…demon! Once she noticed her new appearance, she laughed out loud villainously. She even had wings to keep her afloat. She moved her…claws upwards towards Twilight's crown. Then, she jerked downwards and threw out her hands. This negative light was contained in the crown, but it gave Sunset Shimmer powers with her new claws. The same light shot out from her claws and towards Snips and Snails.

This caused them to become the same form she held!

"This is going to be so cool!" Snips exclaimed in excitement.

They slowly began creeping towards Rainbow and the others girls while Twilight growled at Sunset Shimmer.

The students began releasing frightened screams and quickly retreated back into the school, closing the door shut when Sunset Shimmer noticed them. "I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight just to get my hands on this crown, and it really should have been mine all along!" She exclaimed, aggressively eying the school doors. "But let's let bygones be bygones. I am your princess now, and you will be loyal to me!" Using her magical powers, she grabbed the entire front of the school, crushed it into pieces, and threw them away. She flew inside, causing the students to run in panic.

All of sudden, the students ceased their running, turned around, and slowly walked, moaning as if they were…zombies or something!

"Round them up and bring them to the portal!" She ordered Snips and Snails, who quickly saluted and obeyed. Sunset Shimmer looked towards us. "Spoiler alert: I was bluffing when I said I was going to destroy the portal. I don't want to rule this pathetic little high school; I want Equestria! And with my own little teenage army behind me, I am going to get it!"

"You're insane!" I pointed out angrily to her. "Even if we don't have the Elements, all of us, especially including the Princesses, will stop you!"

She chuckled rather mockingly to my comment. "Even the Princesses don't stand a chance against my new powers. Not to mention they'll be outnumbered to my new army! I'll have Equestria in a matter of no time!"

"No, you're not!" Twilight stood by my side, joining me.

Sunset Shimmer flew towards us, sending strong winds against us.

"Oh, please! What exactly do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have nothing!"

"She has us!" Rainbow countered Sunset Shimmer's statement, bringing the others with her.

Sunset Shimmer laughed loudly evilly. "Gee, the gang really is all back together again!" She continued laughing, even forming tears in her eyes. "Now step aside!" She formed a ball of some strange energy between her claws. "Twilight and Alex have tried to interfere with my plans one too many times already and they need to be dealt with!" After those words, she shot out the ball towards us.

This caused the girls to immediately huddle around Twilight and me in attempts to protect us, but I quickly stood out in front of them and took the hit…or at least… I thought I did…

When I opened my eyes, removing my flinching posture, I felt unharmed. And then I believed that…perhaps my element had actually negated this attack.

"What's this?!" She cried out in surprise. "How are you…?"

"I told you, Sunset Shimmer!" I shouted out, pointing a finger towards her. "My Element wasn't in my crown! It's been inside me the whole time! I hold the Element of Purity! And that Element is my heart! That's something you can't take away! No matter how hard you try!"

"Oh really…?" She asked with an amused expression and unexpectedly swiped me off the floor. I struggled to free myself, but she kept her grip on me tightly. "How about now? Can your little heart free you now?" I only grunted and growled as I glared at her right in the eyes. She stared into my eyes as well, but then changed her expression after. "Oooh… This is interesting…" She commented. I only returned silence. "Yes…I can see him in your eyes… Reveal yourself, Beast!"

"What are you talking about?!" I continued grunting and squirming around. "Let go of me, you freak!"

"Hm…" She tapped a finger on her chin. "Okay… If he won't come out voluntarily…I'll just have to _make him _come out!" Using her claw, she began forming another source of energy directly at me. "By destroying you!" She increased its power and brought it closely. It appeared she wanted a completely direct approach with no signs of defensive for me whatsoever. She was going to do it. Strike me with her magical power that was only inches away from me… I don't even know if I'll survive this one…

"Alex, no!" I heard Twilight cry out from the ground.

Just as Sunset Shimmer was about to obliterate me in some way, someone else suddenly cried out from beneath us.

"Hey!" A girl yelled out, catching Sunset Shimmer's attention. We both looked to be awfully surprised of who it was. Despite her large bang covering the right side of her eye, she glared intently at Sunset Shimmer, holding the sledgehammer boldly with her two hands. "That's _my_ job!" She twirled herself around and threw the sledgehammer towards Sunset Shimmers. It was a direct hit, causing her to be forcefully pushed away from me as she lost her grip. I fell to the ground, landing harshly but enduring nothing too harmful. Starlight, the girl who _actually_ saved me held out a hand towards me. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't look exactly like she hated me either. I could only be deeply surprised by her offer. "Come on. That monster isn't killing you; otherwise I won't be able to mess with you anymore."

I scoffed, but even then I was appreciative for her offer and action. "Gee… Thanks…" As I grabbed her hand, I noticed she was wearing a light-blue dress as if she was attending this dance as well. She pulled me up and then turned her head towards the recovering Sunset Shimmer, keeping her serious frown on her face.

"Why Starlight…" Sunset Shimmer began speaking. "How I should have known you'd come help that dastardly being you call your little brother… But tell you what. I'll forgive you if you decide to come back and assist me in taking over Equestria."

"No." She, with no hesitation, answered to her request.

"No?!" Sunset Shimmer returned. "Isn't that the reason why you decided to join me on this annoying and bothersome chore?!"

Starlight looked towards the floor for a moment. "No…it isn't…"

Without getting into it, Sunset Shimmer immediately growled out furiously and angrily. "Grrragh! I've had enough of your insolence! All you've ever done is be a despicable irritating child! I'll teach you to waste my time and slow me down!" Releasing another fuming snarl, she formed a large ball of her magic and threw it towards Starlight.

This time, I wrapped my arms around her to protect her and most importantly repay my debt towards her. This concentrated piece of light from within me released to protect us once again, just like it did for the others. As the light faded away, Starlight was surprised to see what I had done. Before she could say anything, I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked at her intently. "Go hide."

She only continued staring at me seriously for a moment until she turned away and began hurrying off.

I switched my attention towards Sunset Shimmer who was really steaming now.

"Arrragh! I've had enough with your petty little heart! Stop interfering with my plans!" She demanded.

"This is the price you pay for your selfish acts!" I responded valiantly.

"Grr! You'll see what price you pay for your childish ones!" She faced towards her so called army. "Go! Get him!" They all faced me and slowly began walking towards me.

Fortunately, Twilight and the others ran over to me.

"Don't worry! We're right with you!" Twilight stood by my side, grabbing my hand and holding on firmly as she stared at the army beginning to come closer to us.

"No way will we let anyone threaten a friend of ours if we have anything to say about it!" Rainbow stood on her ground aggressively.

"She's right!" Applejack tipped with her hat and readied her lasso. "You two are the most dang special friends we met. No how we're just gonna stand by and do nothing!"

"And most handsome…" Rarity managed to slip softly, which only I could hear.

"Come on! Let's show them what we're made of!" Pinkie hopped energetically.

Fluttershy slipped her hand in mine and blushed lightly. "With you…I can be brave…"

I was touched by not only Fluttershy's words…but…but all of them… Just like back home…I couldn't be any happier. I softly smiled warmly…even feeling myself grow emotional and slip out a tear to all of them. "…thanks…girls…" I announced gently towards all of them. "You're…the best…" I closed my eyes, feeling more tears wanting to reveal themselves.

Instead, something inside me grew with great strength. I opened my eyes and noticed a glow being visible on my chest. All the girls reacted with awe towards this. The light then seeped through Twilight, surprising her. After, her magic aura formed around her and then connected to me and Fluttershy.

"Girls! Hold hands!" Twilight directed.

They did so, and soon the magic aura was surrounding all of us.

"No! What's going on?!" Sunset Shimmer cried out, now in fear and desperation. To prove this, she shot out multiple magical attacks towards us, all which were completely ineffective.

"I'll tell you what, Sunset Shimmer!" Twilight exclaimed out. "The magic contained in my Element was able to unite with those that helped create it! Every single Element stands with us together! And Alex's pure heart was able to recall the love and union of the Elements back home!" The crown upon Sunset Shimmer's head now shot out a familiar tinted purple glow towards us. We were levitated off the ground, reminding me of this process I had not gone through in so long. The power of the Elements of Harmony. Each one of the girls, even including me, began going through these odd transformations. Applejack formed pony ears on her head instead, and her hair was lengthened longer to represent the tail she had in Equestria. "Honesty!" Fluttershy underwent through this same process, only she actually and surprisingly formed wings on her back. "Kindness!" Pinkie Pie had her turn in the transformation, waving her arms excitedly after. "Laughter!" Rarity then received the perks she had back home. "Generosity!" Rainbow received her wings as well. "Loyalty!" I noticed my wings returned, along with my old ears. "Purity!" Finally, Twilight allowed herself to undergo the transformation lastly, gaining her wings and extended hair. "Magic!" We all remained together, feeling the underrated power surge within us. "Together with a crown, they create a power beyond anything you could imagine, and it is a power you don't have the ability to control! The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship!" Twilight brazenly explained and grabbed my hand strongly, allowing for the rest of us to connect each other's hands once again.

Twilight shared one last look with me. Both of us looked at each other confidently and nodded. Finally, we closed our eyes in order to end this chaos. We felt the power of the elements burst from inside us. The rainbow of our colors twirled around in the sky and then swiftly shot down straight towards Sunset Shimmer.

"No! What is happening?" Sunset Shimmer exclaimed as the Elements surrounded her like a large tornado.

"Here _and_ in Equestria, it is the only magic that can truly unite us all!" Twilight continued, initiating our Elements to send out more beams towards the army of students.

"The only magic that can never be truly defeated…" I ended softly before we finally released the last of our light.

Everything settled down. Everything seemed…peaceful… Did we…do it?

I slowly opened my eyes and no longer saw a horrid Sunset Shimmer. There was a huge crater in the middle of where Sunset Shimmer had flew above, but I focused my attention towards Twilight. She was lying on the ground, her cheek pressing against it as her eyes remained closed. I moved towards her and softly knelt by her. I gently placed a hand on the top of her arm and lightly shook. She slowly opened her eyes and noticed me, only to see me smiling in both accomplishment and love at her. She sat up and quickly embraced me, which I tenderly returned. She looked to her side to notice Spike happily panting by her. Afterwards, she stretched out her arms to him as well, which he followed by jumping into them.

The girls had walked over to us, but they reacted painfully towards our direction. Wondering was this was about, we turned our heads to look inside the huge crater near us. Twilight stood up and walked towards the edge. I followed behind her.

"You will never rule in Equestria." Twilight announced towards Sunset Shimmer, who was weakly attempting to get back up as a cloud of smoke surrounded her. "Any power you may have had in this world is gone. Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are." Twilight presented everyone else, as a few of them walked around the crater as well to look inside. "You've shown them what is in your heart."

Sunset Shimmer was silent for a moment until she sniffled, speaking with her broken voice. "Keep your mouth shut, Twilight Sparkle! You don't know me! Just because you can so easily obtain your friendship, doesn't mean I can!" She continued allowing her tears to fall freely from her face. Twilight didn't respond so quickly to this. I realized that I should handle this instead. Despite having wings, I slid on the steep rocky curve in the crater. Then, I was in front of a weeping and messy Sunset Shimmer. I crouched down in front of her and held out my hand. "Keep your hand away from me…" She ordered softly.

"You've never really had friends…have you?" I asked, shocking her as she gasped and looked up to me. "One way or another, it was hard to make some…and this brought spite into you, didn't it? You were so angry that you couldn't have this… And then, when you were a pupil under Celestia…you just snapped… You were absolutely through with not getting what you desired." I paused for a moment and looked at the ground. "But it all started with friendship…"

"How…how can you say that…?" She spoke through quiet sobs. "You have your friends…right there…especially her…" She pointed at Twilight. "…my replacement…"

"Because I've been through what you have." I gestured my hand closer to her. "Heck, I probably would have done the same thing somewhat close to what you did tonight…if it wasn't for them…" I looked over to Twilight and the girls. "But our final choices rest within us, only to have our past events persuade to which choices we choose to stay with. But in the end, Sunset…" I looked towards her. "Our final choice ultimately depends on us… You can still make the right choice…no matter how difficult or unsatisfying it might be at the time. It'll always lead to a brighter future."

Sunset continued to stare at me through teary eyes, speechless. She held a fist in front of her mouth in attempts to silence her sobs and grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry…" She apologized to me and then looked out to everyone else. "…I'm so sorry!" She returned her apologetic look at me. "I…didn't know there was another way…"

"The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria…" Twilight included. "It's everywhere." She looked out to our friends. "You can seek it out, or you can forever be alone… Like Alex said…The choice is yours. And it's your responsibility to make the right one, no matter how hard it might be…"

"But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship." She confessed.

Feeling her pain, I pulled her up from the floor. Then I carried her gently and flew back to where Twilight and the others were waiting. "If that's the case…" I spoke as I placed Sunset before them. "As long you promise to make the right choices and not try to separate everyone again…I'm sure they can help you with that…" I directed towards Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.

"Those are my girls! Woo-hoo!" Spike cheered from the side, clapping his paws together.

"Did that dog just talk?" One of the guys near him instantly questioned. "Whoa. Weird."

"_Seriously?_" Spike asked in irritation. "The talking dog is the weird thing about all this?"

"I, for one, think you're adorable." Rarity responded, picked up Spike, and began scratching him.

"Oh, yeah…" Spike released in pleasure.

"I believe _this_ belongs to you." Celestia had recovered the crown and presented it in front of Twilight. "A true prince and princess in any world lead not by forcing others to bow before them…" Twilight knelt respectively in front of Celestia. "…but by inspiring others to stand with them." Celestia placed the crown upon her head. "We have all seen that _you two_ are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight…" She then turned her head to see me. "…and Prince Alex…"

Twilight glanced at me for a moment, sharing a heartfelt smile, and then answered Celestia with a nod. "We do."

As soon as Twilight stood back up, the crowd around us immediately began cheering.

Sunset hesitantly walked towards me, still a little devastated about what happened. "Do you…really think that your friends would…actually be mine…?"

"Of course." I faced her, answering her yearning question. "Like I said…_only_ if you promise never to pull any stunts like this again, or do any of the sorts. Treat others…how you'd like to be treated." This caused Sunset to smile lightly. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. I was deeply surprised, but somehow expecting this as well. I laughed inside, realizing how prone I was to feeling sorry for our past enemies and willing to become their friend… After all… The most effective way to defeat a foe is to become their friend… _That_ is the power of friendship… Once Sunset was finished with her embrace, I had to let her know of the bad news, of course. "Although…" I placed a hand on her shoulder and directed her to the front of the school with my other one. "You _do_ have consequences for the choices you make…" I presented the broken front of the school, which obviously needed to be rebuilt once again. "And this…is a pretty big consequence. But hey, all in all, it makes you a better person. And without consequences, we can never realize how our actions affect and hurt others. But don't worry…your friends will be there to take care of you…"

"Come now." Luna stopped by Sunset Shimmer and me and pointed towards the damage. "You know what you must do."

Sunset sighed and walked towards the direction.

Luna and I watched her for a moment before Luna decided to speak. "You know…" I turned to face her. "I always wondered about having a boy…and naming him Alexander…just like you…" This statement made up for her other hurtful one back when she was interrogating Twilight and me. I didn't say anything, but smiled warmly. She smiled as well and patted my shoulder. Then, she walked off to attend to Sunset.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR?!" Pinkie screamed out loud. "LET'S PARTY!"

She led the others back into the building as Rarity walked by me.

"Of course…" She mentioned. "I'm still waiting for that dance…"

I chuckled and then grabbed her hand, taking her back inside so I could give her that dance I promised.

* * *

Despite everything that had had happened, everyone dance and partied enjoyably. After I had satisfied Rarity with a dance she so longed for, she decided to join Pinkie Pie in that line "follow the leader" dance. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, grabbed Scootaloo from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to fly her around. I smiled gently and scanned the crowd for Twilight.

She wasn't hard to find when I noticed a crowd gaining awkward distance away from a single being. In the middle, that being was Twilight. She was absolutely letting loose and dancing crazily to her heart's content, _just_ like her birthday in Canterlot! I grinned and jumped in eagerly to join her. Getting on all fours by her side, I copied her movements exactly. Noticing me when she looked my way, she grinned widely in excitement, which I reacted with as well.

Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Spike were about to join us until, what appeared to actually be Photo Finish, waved towards us and presented a camera. Twilight and I stood up, realizing that she wanted a picture of us.

Each of us happily and excitedly got into position for the picture, recognizably and memorably the same positions as we did back in Equestria when I took my first happy picture with them…

Lowering myself to Fluttershy's height, I glanced towards her and drew myself _just_ a little closer to her. Finally, we all stared jubilantly towards the camera and allowed Photo Finish to snap the photo.

Unfortunately, our night had to be cut short, due to the limited time of returning back home. I began walking outside, using the broken entrance of the school. I stopped by Sunset and smiled assuringly towards her. "You'll have to pay a price now…" I began, offering some words of encouragement. "But it'll be worth it in the end…all right?"

She remained silent, but only nodded.

I continued smiling and walked on towards the group of girls waiting for me outside.

"Hold on…" Twilight brought up as I approached her. "I just totally forgot about something… What happened to Starlight? Have you seen her?"

I looked around for a moment, but knew it was a little unnecessary as I already had an idea of where she was. "I'm sure she's already back in Equestria… She probably left after I told her to hide…"

Twilight placed her fingers to her chin. "I can't tell whether that's a bad thing or a good thing…"

Nevertheless, I just returned a smile and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it." After, I looked out to all the girls in front of us. "Well…I guess this is it… I mean…" I lowered my head and rubbed it a bit, sticking my other hand in my pocket. "You girls have been great…truly…" I lifted my head to see them. "Twilight and I wouldn't have been able to do this without any of you…"

"Oooh!" Rarity cried out and ran towards me, immediately squeezing me. "Why do you have to go?! One boy I _actually_ find to be absolutely magnificent and you're only here for three days!" She sighed sadly.

I chuckled lightly and patted her. "I'm sorry, Rarity…It's been fun here, but we belong back in the other world beyond that mirror."

She sighed once again and nodded. "Okay… I understand… You must…" After a moment, she pulled away, wiping her eyes a bit.

I looked towards the others, smirked a bit, and held out my arms. "Come on. Don't be shy."

Pinkie Pie didn't hesitate for a second; she hopped to my arms and gave me a very huge and tight squeeze, almost leaving me breathless for a few seconds.

Applejack had her turn next, sharing a few words with me. "Been fun having you two here, partner."

"Same here, Applejack." I returned.

After Applejack, Rainbow embraced me as well.

"Stay gold, Ponyboy." She offered.

I laughed a little.

"Thanks…"

When Rainbow Dash pulled away, that left me with one more… Fluttershy.

I looked at her, but she handled the situation a little timidly. For her, I decided to embrace her first instead. She whimpered a little again. Only this time, it seemed that she forced herself to return the hug. It wasn't the kind of force where you didn't want to do it but felt like you needed to. By force, her head was too shy and afraid of hugging me back, but she _wanted_ to do it, and despite all her fears, she accomplished this task. I could feel her warmth radiate from not only her body...but her heart as well. I even felt the heat from her cheeks, as she was in her flushed state once again.

"How about one more together, huh?" Twilight asked, inviting all of us for a major group hug.

Fluttershy and I gently pulled away and looked at each other before accepting this offer. We joined Twilight, along with the rest of the girls, to all share our love for one last time. The girls even released their own somewhat saddened giggles for our departure.

After we broke away, Twilight noticed Sunset Shimmer, who was looking at our scene from behind the broken school wall. "You'll look out for her, won't you?" She asked them.

"Of course we will." Rarity responded. "Although I do expect some sort of apology for last spring's debacle." She added, crossing her arms a little irritatedly.

"I have a feeling she'll be handing out a _lot_ of apologies." Twilight shared as we noticed Luna walk towards her and hand her the tool she'd need to replace bricks, which Snips and Snails carried a plentiful amount of to her in a wheelbarrow.

"We better get going." Spike advised, seeing as it was almost midnight.

Twilight nodded and faced towards the girls. "I know we've only been friends for a short time, but we're going to miss all of you so much." The girls returned earnest expressions…but Fluttershy…she…she still appeared to be a little sadder for my departure as she continued to glance shyly at me with a frown. "Come on…" Twilight placed a hand on my back.

"Alright…" I lightly hesitated and finally turned around with Twilight to walk towards the portal back home.

Walking by us, Spike spoke to Twilight. "That crown really does suit you, _Princess_ Twilight." He winked.

"You know what, Spike? I am starting to feel a little more comfortable wearing it." Twilight answered happily.

"And the wings?"

"I've been walking on two legs and picking things up with _these_." She presented her hands. "Wings? I'm thrilled that's all I'll be dealing with back in Equestria!"

Before they entered the portal, Twilight grabbed something that was resting besides it. She handed it towards me, surprising me a bit with its appearance. "Here."

I grabbed my backpack and observed it for a moment. "My bag! I almost forgot it!"

"That's why I'm here to watch out for you too…" Twilight shared, causing me to look at her. "Spike and I picked up the pieces of your crown and put them inside… I hope that's okay…"

I smiled lightly, heartfelt by their gestures. "It's great…" I hugged her. "Thank you…"

She smiled as well. "Let's go home…" She turned to begin walking, but I remained standing there…unable to get her out of my mind. Twilight stopped herself and turned back, noticing me hold my head down. "…are you coming?"

I didn't answer. My eyes moved to side. I wanted to turn around. I wanted to do it. I threw my backpack around my shoulder and took in a deep breath. I silently turned around and faced directly at Fluttershy.

I ran. Straight towards her.

Before she could say anything, I grabbed her arms and fervently placed my lips on hers. She was extremely startled, and her face intensely flushed so much. Nonetheless, she closed her eyes and was sucked into our kiss. After a moment, I pulled away, leading her to open her eyes.

"I…" She tried to speak, but was utterly speechless.

I only smiled in response.

"Hey! No fair! What about me?" Rarity predictably spoke up about the situation.

I chuckled and looked towards her. "Fine." Her eyes widened and she grinned beamingly in excitement. Then, she puckered out her lips and closed her eyes. Instead of giving her what she expected, I rather placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. She opened her eyes, quite puzzled. "Sorry…it's…as much as I can do…"

Rarity sighed, but smiled nevertheless. "I'll take it. It's an honor from a prince such as yourself."

I smirked, but looked back to see the moon and our time running out. I began jogging lightly away as I waved back towards them. "It's been nice being with you girls! I love you all!" Afterwards, I reached Twilight, gesturing her that I was ready.

Finally, we both entered through the mirror, possibly just before our time ran out.

* * *

On the other side, Twilight and I were standing on our back hooves, just as if we were standing back in that other world. However, the weight of our old bodies brought us back on all fours.

"Alex! Twilight!" We heard in front of us.

"Ah, you're back!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed at us as Twilight was recognizing her old pony limbs.

"You've got your crown!" Rarity announced, hopping towards Twilight.

"I knew you could do it!" Pinkie Pie hugged the both of us.

They didn't know the actual appearance of my crown…but I _did_ technically get it back…

"Oh, we were so worried!" Applejack wiped the tears out of her eye with her hoof.

"Sunset Shimmer, is she alright?" Tia asked.

"I think she's going to be fine." Twilight answered as she looked at me with a smile. "We left her in good _hands_."

The girls only responded with puzzled faces.

"What are hands?" Rainbow inquired, shrugging in mid-air.

Twilight blushed, realizing she had accidentally used the word from the other world. However, Spike came and saved the day when he flew out of the mirror, noticing he was dragon once again. Twilight leaned her head forward to him, grinning at his usual appearance.

I smiled softly as well until Luna embraced me, rubbing my mane gently. "Oh, son…" She pulled back and placed a hoof on my cheek. "You received your crown, correct?"

I immediately felt myself frown sadly. "Uh…yeah…I did…but…" I removed my saddlebag and pulled out the pieces with my magic. "…it's…" I couldn't finish. I felt too saddened about the thought of my mother being disappointed with me. "…I'm sorry…"

"Don't be…" She lifted up my lowered head with her hoof. "I'm just completely exhilarated that you are perfectly fine…" She focused her magic on the broken pieces and took them with her. "Allow me to hold on to these…"

"Thanks, mom…" I smiled lightly and embraced her for a moment. After, I turned around and faced each one of the girls and grinned widely. "Okay! Time to hug each and every one of you!" I announced loudly, remembering the conversation of homesickness Twilight and I had.

"Yay! Hugs!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and immediately was the first one to squeeze me.

After Pinkie Pie, I raced towards Fluttershy, kissed her, and held her tightly. "Oh, I missed you so much!" Then, I moved on to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Come here you two!" I pulled them close with both my hooves, even Rainbow who was flying in mid-air. Next, I moved on to Rarity and surprised her when I threw my forelegs around her.

"Oh-Oh my!" She blushed at my sudden but great expression of emotions.

I hugged Miss Cadence, who even giggled at my behavior.

Lastly was Tia. She returned my action, but spoke to me in a more serious tone.

"Alex…I'm sorry to interrupt your excited reunion…but…there's someone you need to see." She stepped to the side and revealed Starlight, who was leaning on the wall and looking away with her eyes.

"Yeah! Her!" Applejack angrily pointed. "She's the one who helped Sunset Shimmer steal your crowns!"

Starlight didn't say anything.

"So what are you gonna do, Princess?" Rainbow asked. "Throw her in a dungeon in the deepest and darkest part of the Everfree Forest? That sounds about right!"

"Alex…" Tia focused her attention on me. "…do you have anything to share on this situation?"

I stood silent for a moment. I observed her. There was just…something different about her. The Starlight I knew probably would have been attempting to lie her way out of this one…but she just stood there. She didn't look at me. She didn't look at anyone. She stared at the floor and said nothing… I continued looking at her…until I made a decision.

"…let her go."

"WHAT?!" Every one of the girls exclaimed out loud in total disbelief. Even Starlight looked at me surprisingly, but silent.

Applejack quickly attended to me and grabbed my head, looking around. "She didn't somehow brainwash you in the other world, did she?"

I grabbed her hooves and gently placed them down. "No. I'm completely fine. Just…let her go."

"But…why?!" Rainbow Dash inquired greatly. "She _helped_ steal Twilight's and _your_ crown! Heck. She was probably even the reason why yours is broken!"

"She didn't mean any harm from it, Rainbow…" I stated. I actually couldn't tell if I was lying or just…perhaps…even telling the truth. But I was releasing whatever was in my heart after she had saved me… "She was just…confused at the time…" I switched my view on Rainbow to Starlight. She was looking back at me in an unreadable expression. By this, she wasn't sad…she wasn't angry…she definitely wasn't happy…she just seemed…a little blank. "This may be hard to believe but…she even saved me back there…" As I slipped this out, she looked away and furrowed her eyebrows lightly. "Just let her go. Please. And don't think of her any less than before. It was just…a mistake…" Her eyes widened for a moment, but then slowly recuperated.

Tia looked her way toward Starlight's direction and made a gesture with her head. Starlight began to leave in silence.

"What the hay did you do that for, Alex?!" Rainbow demanded. "You could have finally had your revenge! She could have gotten her just desserts!"

"Wh-what?" Miss Cadence asked, oblivious to our backstory.

"Revenge for ruining Alex's—"

I placed a hoof on Rainbow's mouth, shutting her up before she could blurt anything out.

"It's nothing, Miss Cadence." I looked towards the doorway where Starlight was allowed to leave. "I'll be right back…" I removed my hoof and began walking through and past the doorway. I reached Starlight just as she was heading towards the stairs to begin heading out of the castle. "Hold on." I called. She hesitantly stopped and slightly looked back. "You owe me an explanation…"

"I don't owe you anything." She coldly answered.

"Come on." I emphasized. "There's something more to us than you're letting go. I just know it."

"You're an idiot." She answered. "I hate you. That's that." Afterwards, she continued walking.

"If you really hated me…you would have left me for dead back there…" I spoke softly, my voice echoing towards her ears for her to hear. She stopped. Her back was to me, so I couldn't see anything in her facial expressions. "I know now, Star…" I continued. "You helped me and disobeyed Sunset Shimmer. You were the one who put the pictures in my bag…weren't you?" She was still silent. "…well…you might not admit it but…thank you…"

After another moment of silence, she slightly turned her head back, allowing me to only see her mouth move. "Whatever happened happened. Nothing changed. I still don't like you. Don't think you can talk to me whenever you want. Don't even think that we're friends. Just…stay away from me."

I didn't know what to do after that. She continued walking, and I could still hear her steps echo as she walked down the staircase. I sighed heavily and turned around, heading back towards the others.

* * *

"So what happened?" Rainbow asked when I returned.

"She left." I briefly answered.

"What?" She scoffed. "You should have sent her far from Equestria! You should have—"

"Just drop it." I cut her off, presenting a stern and upset tone in my voice.

Tia must have noticed the tension begin to grow, so she decided to make an announcement for all of us. "You all should head to bed. Especially you two." She directed at Twilight and me. "It must have been a long journey, and I'm sure you two are terribly exhausted."

"Heh…" Twilight rubbed her head lightly. "I guess I am."

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia attended to their duties as the other girls, along with Miss Cadence, followed us in the long hallway. They began to each bombard us with questions about our long adventure.

"So what happened after you crossed the mirror?" Rainbow inquired about.

Twilight and I looked at each other, exchanging a look that explained it would be a long night in recalling every single thing that happened.

"To make a long story short…we had to adjust to the new world. We met a group of girls _just_ like you all. Same personality. Same names. Same everything…only they weren't…ponies." I chuckled a little. "In fact…being with them made me homesick. You could say these girls _were_ you…just…" I sighed, too tired to really think too much into it. "…in a different world."

"Where did you stay?" Fluttershy asked.

"What did they wear?" Rarity included.

"Did you have fun?" Pinkie continued.

"What'd you eat?" Applejack questioned.

"Would you say she's just as awesome as me?" Rainbow finished, referring to her alter-dimensional character.

Twilight groaned exhaustedly. "We want to tell you all everything, we do, but we're just so exhausted from all the dancing."

"Dancing?" They all inquired simultaneously.

"Listen…" I spoke. "I know you girls are really excited to know what happened…but can it please wait until tomorrow or something?"

"He's right." Miss Cadence agreed with me. "Let's just leave them be. They'll be glad to give us the whole scoop when they're fully rested."

The girls groaned, but surrendered nonetheless. They all began walking and heading out their own way. I faced Twilight, who was smiling tiredly at me.

"You best start getting your rest, Twi." I suggested, playfully nudging her.

She lightly giggled and rolled her eyes. "Okay, Alex." She looked towards Spike who stayed behind. "Come on, Spike."

"Right behind you!" He pointed out and ran after her as she walked towards the direction of her room.

* * *

After, I felt the need to talk with Fluttershy about the little thing I did before returning to Equestria, just to make sure. I turned around and walked towards the room Fluttershy and I inhabited.

I found Fluttershy brushing her mane gently as she looked towards the mirror on the vanity table.

"Hey…" I announced, catching her attention.

"Oh, hi…!" She turned around, placing the brush down.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

"Oh…um…sure? What is it?" She wondered, returning worried eyes.

I walked towards her and sat in front of her. "Remember…when I mentioned about those girls we met on the other side who were pretty much exactly like you all?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded.

"Well…you see…" I tapped my hooves together. "I…wasn't sure if it was right or not…but you…the Fluttershy in that world…before we left…um…I…well…" I sucked in a heavy breath and slowly released it. "I kissed her… I hope you're not well…upset…" Fluttershy didn't say anything. Instead, she looked towards the floor and rubbed her hoof on it. I brought my head closer. "…are you…?"

She shook her head gently. "No… I think…I felt you…"

"Huh?" I was now a bit confused.

"I…I kind of…I don't know…felt something from you seconds before you came back… It was…really warm. Maybe…maybe that was it…"

"I…I really missed you…you know that…?" I mentioned, bringing myself ever so closer to her.

"I know…" She responded softly. "I really missed you too…"

After, we engaged in physical contact between our lips. It wasn't until a knocking startled us. I turned towards the door to get it. Beyond the door was my mother, smiling sympathetically at me.

"Oh…hey, mom. What's the matter?" Without speaking one word, she retrieved something behind her with her magic. My eyes widened at the majestic appearance of the gift she brought forward. It was my crown, and it was like completely new once again. She placed it delicately on my head. "…how?"

"I was able to mend the broken pieces with my magic…" She explained. "Just as if any piece of my heart is broken…you're able to do the same with your light…"

Releasing almost teary eyes, I wrapped my hooves around her tightly. "I love it… Thank you."

She nuzzled her head among mine for a moment. "You're welcome. Have a Goodnight's rest, Alex…"

"You too, mom…" I answered.

She smiled for a moment before she turned away and walked off along the hallway. I slowly closed the door shut and turned around. I grabbed my crown and lowered it to my eyes. It's just like it never happened… I moved it over to the nightstand and turned to Fluttershy.

"It looks beautiful…" She commented.

"Hm." I gazed at her. "Maybe I should wear you for a crown instead." Fluttershy both giggled and blushed, reacting bashfully at that comment. "Hey, I'm going to go out for just a bit. You can get ready for bed right now, if you want. I'll be back, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, allowing me to turn towards the door and walk out into the hallway.

* * *

I wanted to see Twilight before we finally headed to bed for the night, so I knocked her door, opening it after. However, I didn't see her inside. I only saw Spike, who was fixing up his bed for the night.

"Hey, Spike. Do you know where Twilight is?" I asked.

"Oh, I think she said she was going out for some fresh air or something." He returned, keep his attention on his bed.

Going out for some fresh air…? I hope she's okay…

"Thanks." I expressed and walked out of there.

I took the crystal stairs out of the castle to look around for Twilight. The first thing I noticed was the Crystal Heart. It spun rapidly as it was held in the center for all to see. Beneath this sight was Twilight. She was sitting down and staring at it. I began feeling even more concerned for her, hoping she wasn't sad for some reason.

"Twilight?" I called, walking towards her.

"Alex…" She answered softly without moving her body, keeping her eyes on the heart. "There's something I need to tell you…"

"What?" I quickly approached her, wanting to know what was troubling her.

"I think…" She began turning her head towards me. "I think I'm falling for you…" She spoke with a straight and serious face.

My heart jumped and I slightly flinched back. "Wh-what?!" All these new things rushed through my mind. Having to deal with not only Rarity's situation, but possibly Twilight's as well.

However, she couldn't keep her serious face for long. She snickered and soon burst out laughing. I realized her behavior and sighed in relief, placing a hoof on my chest.

"I'm just playing around with you!" She continued giggling. "Geez… Rarity was really over you back on the other side, huh?"

"O-Oh… Yeah…" I looked towards the ground a little embarrassingly.

"You know…it's kind of weird though…" She wondered. "I don't think I've ever seen Rarity act like that around you here… Hm… Oh well." She shrugged. "It's nothing super important or anything." I allowed myself to feel relieved once again. "Hey…there's one thing I really want to know…"

"Hm?" I sat by and looked at her.

"How in Equestria did Sunset Shimmer know Starlight? I mean…how is it that she was able to get her to help her in the first place? I know Starlight is a jerk, but I don't think she'd have plans to take over Equestria or anything…"

I sighed. "Starlight's really the only pony to ask about that…but…she's complicated right now… I don't understand her…and she doesn't want me to…"

Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Well, I haven't seen much, but I _did_ notice she wasn't being aggressively cruel to you. Maybe…you _are_ changing her…even if it's just baby steps…"

"Yeah… I guess…" I looked towards her and smiled.

We looked at each other in silence for a moment before Twilight began to speak again.

"Hey…I can tell you anything, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course." I nodded assuringly.

"Even if it might be super embarrassing? And anything that might make you feel mad or something similar?"

"Come on. You know what you are to me. I could never care less for you than I do now."

"Well…" She rubbed her hooves together. "This is just a thought…but…" She looked away a little reticently. "Like I said, just something I've kind of had in my mind." I waited until she was ready to tell me what was stored. "Do you think…we would have made a good pair?"

"Pair? What do you mean?" I questioned.

"You know. Like how you and Fluttershy are."

"A couple…?" Twilight nodded. "Well…" I paused and stared at the Crystal Heart. "I mean…sure. Why not?"

"That's good…" Twilight released almost quietly. "Sorry for asking this… It's just… It was kind of fun with that whole… 'pretending couple' thing. I've never been in such a relationship before so…it was…you know…it was kind of new to me."

"Yeah… I know what you mean…" I replied with a smile of the memorable event, but then frowned in concern when I faced her. "But…that doesn't bother you, does it? What we have is enough, right?" I was hoping that she wouldn't actually do what Rarity did in the end.

She looked towards me, smirked proudly and nodded confidently. "Yup! Having friends is such an amazing feeling to hold…and I really try not to take that for granted." She chuckled a little. "I can tell you're the same way. I still remember when you weren't so comfortable with us…yet…you still got angry…but it was only because you really cared…and you didn't want to see our friendship break. Even now, you don't want to risk anything if it meant messing with our friendship. You know not to take us for granted because…you really enjoy our involvement in your life. This is just a little piece of why you hold the Element of Purity…your Element…your pure heart…"

I could only stare at Twilight. I could tell. She spoke from her own heart. I could _feel_ it. And because of this…I was speechless.

"Wow… Well… I'm glad Twilight… I really am…" I even began feeling a tear slowly slip out. "You've left me speechless…"

She sent me half-lowered eyes and continued to playfully smirk. "That's not everything."

"Huh?" I returned to her unexpected continuation.

"You see…" She closed her eyes and cleared her throat.

"A friend for life~

That's what you are to me…" She began singing when I thought it couldn't get any better. I widened my eyes in both astonishment and amazement.

"A friend for life~

That's what you are to me…" She stood up and pulled me up along with her. After, she continued singing, walking around me rhythmically while I could only gaze back.

"I couldn't see what was right there in front of me

Turned my back, got my mind off track, yeah

You saw a world, there was something new entirely

Helped me to see all the possibilities"

Feeling emotionally self-reliant, I opened my mouth and heartily joined her.

"Oh, like a star in the daylight

Oh, like a diamond at night

Your light was hidden

Follow my sign!"

Twilight and I began lightly dancing now as I could really feel her heart opening up.

"A friend for life~

That's what you are to me...

A friend for life~

That's what you are to me..."

She then wrapped her foreleg around me as she stood by my side, singing alone for a moment.

"Every friendship is tested

You say you're sincere but it's all unclear now

With a word, everything changes

And just like that, you and I go right back" She winked, and then stretched out her foreleg towards the sky, leaving me to join in once again.

"Oh, like a star in the daylight

Or like a diamond at night

The light will shine" She tapped my chest with her hoof.

"When the time is right~

A friend for life~

That's what you are to me...

A friend for life~

That's what you are to me…"

Twilight looked more into her heart and meaningfully sang.

"When I put my hand out.

And I thought I would fall~

You knew what I needed

And you came around to fix it up!"

Twilight and I looked at each as we finalized softly.

"A friend for life~

That's what you are to me...

A friend for life~

That's what you are to me...

A friend for life~

That's what you are to me...

A friend for life...

That's what you are to me…"

Twilight finished when she embraced me softly.

"Geez, Twilight…" I managed to say, as I was utterly even more speechless than before. "That…that really means a lot to me… Thank you…"

"Hehe…" She slipped. "You can thank me by promising me something…"

"What's that?" I asked.

"Don't ever change."

I stared at Twilight in silence for a moment. However, my shocked mouth slowly stretched out to a smile.

"I promise."


End file.
